Becoming A Shinobi
by AwayLemonade
Summary: Kagome, Sango and Miroku were brought to Konoha- as children, follow their lives as they grow up in a strange new place. InuYashaxNaruto. Title change formerly: Growing Up A Shinobi
1. Moving On

Disclaimer for the entire story: I do not own Naruto or InuYasha. This plot is mine do not use it without my permission. Domo arigato gozaimashita [Thank you very much.]

'Thoughts'

"Speaking"

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Pages: 10

Words: 5,269

Chapter One: Moving On

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"Miroku, how come her eyes have turned this blue color?"

"It must be from blindness Sango you saw what happened."

"Well, we should be safe in my old village until we have recovered."

* * *

The light illuminating from glowing wisps of grayish black energy had awakened her. "'Me ….wo ….samete……. kudasai [Wake up]," A raspy voice whispered calling to the carefully bandaged girl laying on back. "'Mmeeee wwoooo saaaaameeeteeeee kuuuuuudaaaasaaaaiiiiii….."

Wondering where the sound was coming from Kagome tried to sit up but found that her right arm had been completely immobilized being held in place with two very sturdy sticks while torn fabric was used to make her a sling. It hurt to breath and she could feel some of the cuts and bruises that surely were littered over her entire body. A light snore came from beside her. She tried to make out the forms of the sleeping people that where to the right of her, but it too dark, everything was pitch black. Parting her dry lips her pink tongue darted out quickly to moisten them. In doing so she recalled Naraku doing the exact same motion only a lot slower as he removed the rest of the hanging flesh that had once been Kohaku's face, to reveal his own.

"Kukukuku poor pitiful priestess if you think that the half breed, InuYasha, will come to your rescue, it's much more convenient if you die. He came to me asking if there was any way for his beloved Kikyo to be resurrected so that they can live happily ever after," Naraku stated as he shot out his tentacles towards Kagome only to have her fight off the one's that she could of them burning them in the process with purification reiki [spiritual energy] and dodging the rest of them as he continued to attacked her. "The mutt wants you to die so badly that he is willing to let me to absorb his powers. Kukuk he even proved how far he would go. He was the one to kill your entire family as….well as kukukuku…Kohaku."

The Taijiya [demon slayer], Sango, who was tiring from fighting off the continuous stream of Naraku's clones was so shocked by the information that she stopped in her tracks. InuYasha killed Kohaku…she let her guard down for that split second and it resulted in her receiving multiple blows to her mid section breaking at least a couple of her ribs. It was with such force that, when the tentacles impacted with Sango that her body was tossed through the air.

A massive saber toothed neko [cat], Kirara, saw this as her chance and dashed forward latching onto a slimy tentacle tearing it off before she too was also knocked back. However Kirara was able to quickly recover before exerting her leg muscles to run full speed, to gain enough momentum to slam her entire body into the clone that attacked Sango. Once on the ground her matted thick fur did little to protect her from being sliced by stray tentacles. Ignoring the pain long enough she was able to sink her razor sharp teeth into the clone. Once she had there was a loud popping noise and a wooden doll clanked to the ground that was immediately crushed underneath Kirara's bloody paw.

The Houshi [monk/ holy man], Miroku, who had seen Sango sent soaring through the air immediately ran away from the two Naraku clones he had been fighting as ran he dodged yet another one of Naraku's clones in order to be able to catch Sango. Miroku continued to slide backwards until he collided with the rough bark of a tree which cracked under such force. He grunted in pain as he dislocated his left shoulder, the noise of was able to snap Sango out of her shock. "Lady Sango?" Miroku called watched her with one eye, his other one shut with the extreme ache of his shoulder not being where it should be. He watched as Sango stood up, tightly gripping the strap of Hiraikotsu. It was only when her body started pulsing with energy, both his eyes widened. He could sense that Sango had somehow tapped into her inner strength and was now combining it with her already existing power.

"HIRAIKOTSU!" The giant boomerang was thrown with such force that the air around it caught fire, popped five clones and sliced the tentacles off another four before returning to Sango's awaiting open hand. Running forward she swung Hiraikotsu again popping two this time before it was swatted off to the side by one of the hundreds of remaining clones. Rolling over to dodge attacks while using her Kanata to slice up tentacles that came at her she managed to get a hold of Hiraikotsu's strap and ignoring the burning pain in chest area so that she could continue fighting off the Naraku clones with vengeance. Kirara was right behind her breaking the small wooden dolls as well as guarding her back.

'InuYasha…he betrayed all of us… he killed Mama, Jii-chan, Souta and Kohaku! How dare he, I will avenge my family's death.' Kagome vowed to herself just as she started to feel how much abuse her body had taken. 'We've been fighting for hours and I'll run out of reiki soon. The chunk of jewel that Naraku has absorbed into his body needs to be removed. Only then will the Shikon no Tama finally be complete. I have to get close enough to him and let him capture me.' Kagome thought grabbing onto one of his tentacles and purifying it as she allowed another one to wrap itself around her neck.

How she had managed to keep her arms from being pinned down, she'll never know, as Naraku wrapped two more tentacles around her waist and lifted her body off the ground. Kagome clawed at the slimy appendage wound tightly around her neck greedily sucking in as much oxygen as she could when it loosened slightly. When she felt it slithering down into her shirt she gulped, what was Naraku's intentions?!! Only when she felt the barrier that she had surrounded around her almost complete chunk of the Shikon react did she left out a breath of relief.

Naraku let out a small growl of frustration drawing Kagome in closer as she tried to lean further away from him. Kagome found out that the more she pretended to struggle, the closer he drew her in and before she knew it she was an arm length away from his exposed pale yellowish chest. "Dear Miko, give me the remainder of the jewel and _perhaps_I will allow you and your friends live." Naraku stated while trying to get through the barrier once more only to be repelled yet again his face twisted into a grimace 'How dare she keep me from what should rightfully be mine!'

Kagome frowned as she tried to remember what she had said to Naraku. All she did remember was that it had angered him and he cut of her supply of oxygen with a squeeze. Her frown deepened slightly when she noticed that her eyes had not adjusted to the darkness yet, they should have adjusted a long time ago. To pass the time she wondered what else she could recall. Well she did remembered the coolness of Naraku's chest as she dug her nails from her right hand into his flesh and used her reiki to draw out the part of the Shikon no Tama that was in him, forward, the same time she was burning a hole through his chest.

It was surprising to Kagome that focusing the purification reiki to heal a wound was harder than having to send a constant flow out her hands, which was easier. When she thought of protection and purifying something the reiki was a light pink. Strangely enough when she was thinking about attacking, it changed from the normal light pink color. Instead when it came out of her hands, it was a very light blue color and came out with the ability to send small shocks to the nervous system. Kagome concentrated harder now as she could almost feel the smooth surface of the Shikon as three tentacles wrapped itself around her right arm. The tentacles constricted around her arm so tightly that she heard and felt her forearm snap. Through the haze of pain and lack of oxygen she still managed to rip the chunk of pink jewel out using her left hand.

"_IIE!_[NO!]" Naraku yelled as he gained back some control over his own body. He could feel the power draining from his body once the Jewel was torn from his torso. This wasn't what he had in mind it wasn't supposed to end this way! Naraku hissed when he suddenly felt warmth and unimaginable power flood over his body in waves. Power that had been within his grasps but he had lost! Power that could turn him into a full blooded demon and allow him to rule over all the lands! The same exact power that blinded him as the Shikon no Tama glowed in all its glory telling the whole world that was finally complete once again.

Kagome barely recalled what happened next as she reached up her left hand up to feel her sore neck in the darkness. She hissed when her finger tips lightly brushed up against the badly bruised flesh. It happened when she was struggling to get oxygen to her lungs after Naraku completely cut off all air flow. She just remembered how good it was to finally hold the completed Shikon no Tama. Before she used what little oxygen that remained in her lungs to make a wish.

"I wish," Kagome struggled to choke out to the jewel which glowed brightly in response, "for the souls… in the Shikon no Tama…to be-"

"_YAMATE! _[STOP!]" Naraku cried out in a sad attempt to hinder Kagome from saying the next two words. He sent out a tentacle with the intent on piercing through her body.

"-set free."

As soon as the words left her lips brilliant useless pieces of glass that had once been the Shikon no Tama burst outwards immediately destroying Naraku's remaining clones. With them gone everyone's attention was on the two souls that had immerged from the small pink prison. A black blur quickly zoomed away while Midoriko's brightly glowing white one stayed hovering in the sky momentarily surveying the scene; before she closed her eyes in regret at what had to be done next. Midorkio's arms detached themselves from her glowing body and rushed towards Naraku's face using both hands to pry each of his eyes to open wider, as the rest of her soul turned into a ball of pure reiki, which split into two and disappeared into both of Kagome's eyes.

No matter how hard Naraku tried to pry the invisible hands off his face he couldn't. His faced contorted in shock when Kagome didn't even flinch to acknowledge the bloody tentacle that had just gone through to the other side of her body. For the first time Naraku could feel the fear gripped the organ that pumped blood to the rest of his body, his so called heart, the sensation was almost as tight as he was squeezing Kagome's neck. He couldn't run away this time, he couldn't hide either he couldn't even move. A grunt of pain turned into an ear piercing scream as he starred into the bright pink light coming from Kagome's eyes he felt himself slowly being purified from the inside out.

Did he die? Was he dead? Kagome clenched her fist tightly she didn't know! The last thing she remembered was him screaming. She must have lost consciousness after using up almost all of her reiki, her wounds weren't even healing anywhere near the rate they normally would. Kagome decided that she needed some fresh air; shakily standing on her own two feet she used the wall as her guide to the door. Once outside in the coolness of the night she realized she couldn't see a thing, everything was dark. Was she…blind? It had to be, then how was it that she saw a light? After all it was the very thing that had awakened her. Kagome rubbed her eyes, it hadn't changed a thing however the grayish black wispy light had returned beckoning for her to follow it.

"Kite……….. kudasai. [Come here.]" The same voice from before spoke, only a little louder this time.

"Who's there?!" Kagome asked while she slowly followed the trail making sure she was on guard even in her weakened state. When her footsteps started echoing she stuck her arm out and felt along the rough rocky surface of a cave with her finger tips. "Who are you?" Her own voice questioned over and over again as the sound bounced back. She let out a small gasp when the light led her to the humongous glowing spirit of the dragon youkai whose soul was torn from his body and had been trapped inside the jewel along with Midoriko's.

"Anata [You]… Anata no namae wa nan desu ka? [What is your name?] You're the one who wished for the souls trapped in the jewel to be set free?"

"Kagome." She replied curious to what the spirit wanted with her. She gave a small head nod to the second question.

"Kagome… well I guess you're the one I give my thanks to," He grumbled his voice still coming out raspy and loud. "I never thought I'd see the day when _I_would be thanking a _ningen _[human]."

"How come I can see you when I can't see anything else?"

"You have lost your sense of sight, meaning you cannot really see me. You are using your reiki senses to produce a picture of me in your mind. Since you are more in tune to sensing demons this is a simple task that you can do," He explained pausing momentarily before speaking again. "Kagome you have given me back the one thing I had wished for, my freedom. For that I will give you the things that youkai had tried to kill me for when I was alive, my eyes along with the rest of my power since it is no longer any use to me."

Leaving no time for her to protest the next thing she knew was that the dragon's spirit face was right up against hers, his red pupils where outlined with a rim of black. There were three black commas each with a small white dot in the middle of every comma in both his eyes. Kagome felt a massive gust of wind fly into her eyes and fill every inch her body. She forced herself not to cry out when her eyes suddenly started to burn badly and itch. She felt like clawing at her eye balls in hopes to relieve some of the aggravation in her eyes. It wasn't any better when the rest of her body started to feel as if there was molten lava flowing through her veins. Her miko reiki wasn't reacting to the dragon spirit's because it had become accustomed to both the energies in the Shikon no Tama gave off in small pulses.

Water dripped on her quivering form from the top of the cave as she slid down the rocky surface of the cave wall. It felt like an eternity of being slowly roasted from the inside out. Her insides felt rewired- like her entire circulatory system had been rearranged before the sensation finally receded, once it had she uncurled herself from the tight ball that she had curled into from the intense pain and blinked open her watering eyes. The sensation had made her want to vomit out all her organs. She sat on the ground in a daze breathing heavily trying to keep the bile that was rising to her mouth, down.

"At least I can see." She mumbled as she gingerly rubbed her eyes with back of her hand as she stumbled out of the cave. The spirit of the dragon demon was no longer there so there was no reason for her to stay either. The blurriness hadn't gone away yet, but Kagome could tell that the sun still had not risen as she made her way back to the hut.

"Kagome you're awake! Thank Kami [God]," Sango exclaimed waking up almost as soon as Kagome had made it back into the hut and onto her sleeping bag. "I was so worried I thought you were dead."

"Why? What happened after I lost consciousness? Is Naraku-?" Kagome asked curiously.

"No, that bastard managed to hang on by a thread and get away. Miroku and I wanted to chase after him but he found Shippo's hiding spot, knocked him out and threatened to kill him if we did. He got away…again!" Sango said slamming her fist into the wooden floor her body tense. It slowly dissipated as she looked over her friend. "How are you feeling? You lost a lot of blood Kagome I don't know what I would have done if you had died. I already lost Kohaku- how could InuYasha betray me like that?!"

"InuYasha betrayed all of us," Miroku said solemnly joining in on the conversation after being awoken by Sango's loud outburst. "He is nothing more than a coward and we are better off without him," After he had added his two cents in Miroku realized that Kagome seemed to be looking right at him. "Kagome…can you see me?"

"Un [Yeah], what kind of question is that?" Kagome asked back deciding that it was in her best interest not to retell the events that had just occurred. They might think she was crazy following a random glowing light accompanied by a voice into a cave in her vulnerable state.

"I just-there was-We saw-! Uhhh… never mind." Miroku said dumbfounded, it had to be some sort of miracle!

"Wow Miroku must have hit his head really hard against that tree." Sango stated holding her ribs in pain when she let out a small laugh. Only when Kagome didn't join her in the laughter she became worried. She knew Kagome well enough that the look on her face meant one thing- Kikyo was near. Which meant InuYasha was probably close behind, since he was her loyal lapdog!

"InuYasha, Kagura, Kikyo, Kanna and Shippo are all outside. InuYasha is carrying an incredibly massive brown bag and Kikyo has an unconscious Shippo under her arm. She must have drugged Shippo to keep him asleep," Miroku reported after he sensed something outside, he peaked out one of the windows of the hut. He quickly ducked when Kanna had turned her head to face his direction. "Naraku is nowhere in sight. They haven't attacked us yet so I don't know what their intention is. They most likely know that we're still recovering from that battle a couple days ago; and that we can't fight them in the state we're in. Sango is there any way we can escape your village without being noticed?"

"Iie. There is only one way in and it's the same way to get out." Sango whispered now standing slowly avoiding any creaky wooden boards as she made her way over to Hiraikotsu.

"Miroku what are you wearing?" Kagome suddenly asked when she noticed that he was wearing a purple t-shirt with a high rising collar and some black knee length shorts.

"Well Lady Kagome you see I ended up tearing my robes into shreds to use as bandages for everyone. Both of you lost a lot of blood and kept bleeding through the bandages. This was the cheapest thing I could buy with the money left over from buying more bandages. Kirara took me to the village a couple miles from here. The ladies there were so young and beautiful, they begged me to stay but I told them I had to go because I was tended to two injured people. They cried out how handsome, noble and valiant I was they wanted me-"

_THUNK_

"Urusai [Shut up]," Sango said looking at the side of Hiraikotsu which had made contact with Miroku's skull. 'My wrists haven't recovered from throwing Hiraikotsu so much' Sango thought as she struggled to lift her giant boomerang off of Miroku's unbelievably thick skull. "So what are we going to do? We can't just sit here and wait for them to make the first move."

"Unfortunately we don't have much of a choice," Kagome said as she gently scratched behind Kirara's ears. "They have Shippo as a hostage and we can't just leave him behind with them, he's our friend!"

"She's right Sango, if we do anything they won't hesitate to kill Shippo. We need to come up with a plan." Miroku said while he rubbed the bump on his head as he sat right in front of the window with his legs crossed and his eyes closed.

They sat in silence trying to think of a plan while listening to the noises outside. Sango broke it by admitting what they already knew. "It's no use! There isn't anything we can do. They've got us cornered and they know it." She said as she limped around the hut pacing back and forth fiddling with the holes in her dirty demon slaying outfit.

"Whatever happens next I just want you guys to know that I have always considered you as family. We've all been through so much we've become stronger because of all the obstacles we've had to face by ourselves and together …." Kagome trailed off looking back and forth between Sango's and Miroku's eyes. "And I believe together we can overcome this!"

Soon everyone's attention was on the Kanna who had soundlessly entered the hut quietly saying one word before turning back around. "Follow."

Sango looked like she was about to deny the order, her whole body had tensed up. However Miroku shook his head placing his hand on Sango's shoulder and she relaxed knowing that it would do them no good. Instead Sango held her head high with Hiraikotsu strapped onto her injured body. Kagome stood on the right hand side of Sango and Miroku was on Sango's left standing tall without his staff, since it had been broken in the previous encounter with Naraku, instead he held Kirara in his arms. They all walked out the hut simultaneously their heads held high.

"Kagome, Sango and Miroku." InuYasha greeted with a twisted grin while he circled around them while Kanna, Kikyo, Kagura followed in his footsteps as they moved Kagome, Kirara, Sango and Miroku where he needed them to be.

"Reincarnation." Kikyo hissed to Kagome with an almost excited look as she held Shippo by the scruff of his neck. She truly believed she could become human once more with Kagome out of the picture.

Kagome immediately noticed that something was seriously wrong with InuYasha. His eyes were red, but he wasn't lusting for blood and had not lost control of his demon side. The tell tale purple stripes were not present on his face or on his wrists. She knew automatically knew who it was in InuYasha's body and practically spat out the name in disgust, "Naraku."

"Oh, you think you figured it all out little Priestess, but you're wrong. Thanks to you I am occupying InuYasha's body however the mangy mutt is still in here too. He and I made a deal, I would get to live and he would finally be a full blooded demon. I would congratulate you on your find by killing you myself, but I can't waste my precious energy on you. Instead I have prepared a parting gift from me, to you and your pathetic friends." Naraku's voice spoke from InuYasha's lips.

"It's time." Kanna announced looking up at InuYasha who let out Naraku's signature chuckle.

"Kagura go make yourself useful, stand over there." Naraku ordered.

Kagura's clenched her jaw tightly as she strode over to stand in front of Kagome, Miroku, Kirara and Sango. Kagura almost wished that she had left Naraku to die when she found him blindly crawling towards their hideout his body burned and bloody. He was holding a knocked out small fox demon cub but all she had to do was wrap her hand around Naraku's throat and squeeze her hand around his throat and he would have been dead. What made her stop was the promise he made to her, Naraku promised that if she carried him back to their hideout she would get her heart back when he recovered. Kagura was surprised when Naraku, occupying his new body, kept his promise returning her heart back only asking one thing before he would grant her true freedom. That she help him get rid of Kagome and her friends. This was the last thing she had to do. She wasn't exactly sure what role she had to play, but she could practically taste the freedom now.

"Farewell," Naraku said after flexing his blood soaked claws, tossing Kagura's head close to the body. He had only returned the stupid wind witch's heart because he needed to use her blood as a sacrifice to activate the trap he had set. It would finally rid him of the annoying girl who used her powers to try and kill him and her equally annoying friends who wanted nothing more than to see him dead. He used Kagura's blood on his right hand and smeared the fresh red substance onto the back of Kanna's mirror activating a seal. "I needed to sacrifice a wind youkai [demon] for this to work."

Kagome couldn't help but watch, she was morbidly transfixed as Kagura's beheaded body fell to the ground and blood gushed out. The blood was rapidly making its way to where she was standing next to Sango, Miroku and Kirara. That's when Kagome noticed all the markings and lines drawn into the dirt- it was a trap! But by that time whatever they had all stepped on, had activated completely absorbing Kagura's body. Kagome's heart race increased when she found that she could no longer move her body anymore. She could only watch as Kanna walked over to where they were standing and lifted up her mirror.

The writing glowed as it wrapped around Kagome, Miroku, Kirara and Sango levitating them off the ground to become aligned with Kanna's mirror. Then all of them felt millions of pin pricks all over their bodies as ghastly grey wisps were drawn from them only to be sucked into the mirror and exit through the back to be absorbed into Kanna's own body. All of them soon realized that they were getting younger while Kanna was _aging_ right before their eyes.

"Well this has been fun," Naraku's voice drawled as he stood up after he had finished using InuYasha's claw to draw another set of symbols into the ground. "I would stay and watch as you disappear from existence but I have things with greater importance that must be attended to," After speaking those words he grabbed Shippo by the scruff of his neck with the same clawed hand that was carrying the massive bag. Using his free hand dripping with purple poison he plunged it straight into Kikyo's clay body, burning the same symbols that was on the ground onto her cracking abdomen. "This gate needed a sacrifice of two thousand souls." He spoke looking directly into the confused-almost hurt clay eyes.

"Bas-tar-" Kikyo wasn't able to finish the word as Naraku tore his hand away. Once he did the souls poured out of the clay cavity opening up the portal he had summoned. This portal would be able to transport him to a new dimension. He didn't even bother to look back before he jumped into the portal while clutching Shippo and his moving giant brown bag.

If he had looked back, he would have seen how much Kanna was struggling to continue to absorb the energy. She needed to please her master and make sure her sister's sacrifice wasn't in vain. Kanna opened her black eyes and watched the small figures that had where on the verge of passing out inside the glowing ball. Their bandages had fallen off their small frames and the clothes that once fit them now engulfed their bodies. Even with all the odds against them all of them were still trying to escape with everything they had, the cat demon who had just transformed was causing Kanna the most distress.

The portal was still open for the moment it was being kept that way by the hundreds of souls that continuously gushed out of the clay prison. The pale colorless souls had nowhere else to go. The person the soul had inhabited at one point was long gone. Then a pink soul with dark purple patches emerged from the hundreds of colorless ones and rushed towards its true owner. The soul shed the purple spots becoming a light pink shade as it broke through the barrier so it could finally be reunited back with the rest of its soul inside Kagome's body.

Kanna's eyes slightly widened as the barrier was shattered, the glowing ball shrunk rapidly on the small figures inside before exploding outwards. Blood dribbled out of her mouth and onto her pale wrinkly hands as the shards of her broken mirror pierced through her body and into her organs. Kanna stumbled backwards watching as the light from the explosion cleared to show Kagome and her comrade's clothing had shrunk to fit their bodies. The bandages however lay on the ground useless. It must have happened when the ball shrunk inwards on itself. Kanna could watch no longer as her body shut down, the pale elderly woman fell forward, her white hair flowing around her like a halo as she lay motionless.

Kirara was completely disoriented tripping over her own paws as she tried to stand was never a good sign. It felt like something missing-but what? She shook her giant furry head when she couldn't recall. All she knew was that Kagome, Sango and Miroku where on the ground and she wanted to go into the bright light. Being mindful of her massive canines she picked up the three children using her mouth and limped through the closing gates of the portal. They all tumbled through to the other side of the portal, which closed itself off once they had arrived. Once on the other side Kirara was way too exhausted to stay in her transformed state after the whole ordeal with Kanna. So she briefly surveyed the surroundings and turned back into her smaller self before her eyes shut.

* * *

"Buyo……yamate onegai [stop please]." Kagome half heartedly murmured using her left hand to bat, what she believed to be her obese spotted cat away. The small wet tongue continued its onslaught on her face until Kagome cracked one of her eyes opened. It only took a second for her to realize that this fur ball blocking her line of vision was not Buyo, but was Kirara. Turning her head around she was able to see that Sango and Miroku lying not too far away from herself. Their bodies were both sprawled out in uncomfortable looking positions and dirty, but at least she knew they were still with her. Letting a rather painful sigh of relief out she turned back to where she had originally been facing, that's when she saw the two blue sandaled feet.

* * *

Who can correctly guess who the sandaled feet belong to?


	2. In Konoha

Pages: 12

Words: 5,879

Chapter Two: In Konoha

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"Don't move you're extremely injured," The young sounding voice belonging to a guy commanded her as he stepped closer to the young girl's body. He could already tell that the child's neck was tremendously bruised, her right arm was broken and she was bleeding badly. "What's your name? I'm Hatake, Kakashi."

"I'm Hig, Hig-ur-ashi, Ka-go-me." She answered somewhat stumbling over the pronunciation, she somehow knew she could trust him-like she could _feel_ that he was trustworthy. Was that even possible? Her head pounded and her whole body felt numb. That wasn't normal- or was it?

"You can call me Kakashi, how old are you?" He asked through his black mask that covered a good portion of face. While his Konohahitai-ite [forehead protector] glinted in the sunlight as it covered his left eye and his gravity defying silver hair swayed in the slight breeze.

"Ano [Um]," Kagome was happy when a number came to mind, she was able to recall her current age. "I just turned six but I'll eventually be seven years old!"

Kakashi flipped the girl over not letting the shock show through the one visible eye. Kagome's worst wound was the one on her chest. It almost went completely through her small body. He quickly dressed the wound before checking on the other two children. Their wounds were definitely not as bad as the youngest one. The older looking girl had a couple broken ribs, gashes and bruises all over her body and two sprained wrists. Kakashi was doing what he could to make sure none of them bleed out before he brought them back to his village. That's right; he was going to bring them back to the village. After all they needed medical attention.

"Be careful of Mir-o-ku he wraps up this thingie on his right hand- it's called the Kazaana, his daddy and grandpa had it too. It's very da-dange- it's bad," Kagome warned Kakashi when he approached Miroku. She slightly pouted when she couldn't pronounce the last word she wanted to it started to hurt when she breathed in and out. "Is San-go and Miroku okay?"

"Yeah, they're lot better off than you are." Kakashi stated quickly taking off his glove and slipping it onto the boy's right hand up before popping the boy's dislocated shoulder back into place. Miroku had rather nasty cuts on his legs, deep cuts on both his arms and lots of bruises.

"I'm glad they're okay…" Kagome said with a pained smile. To take her mind off the pain she looked around at the wreckage that had once been houses, then back at Kakashi. "What happened here?"

"You…don't remember?"

"Remember?" The word resonated in Kagome's skull and when she tried to remember what had happened to her it only gave her a throbbing headache. "I only remember the name Naraku."

Kakashi watched as the girl clutched her head in pain, she needed to go to the hospital as soon as possible but how he was going to bring back all three children? No one expected there to be a survivor- let alone three of them in the latest village attack, this was probably the first time there were survivors. He could bring the ones that needed medical attention the most first-which would be the two girls. But what if they youkai returned while he was gone and killed the boy? He could set up camp and stay with them until scouts were sent out to find him, but that could take days. Kagome needed medical attention right away. Kakashi rapidly went through all of the options possible in his head.

"Watcha doing?" Kagome asked as black spots started to eat away at her vision.

"I'm figuring out how to bring you and your friends back to get medical treatment. See there is three of you but only one of me." Kakashi said squatting to the ground near Kagome as he explained pointing to himself.

"Well there is Ki-ra-ra." Kagome said dizzily trying to point to the right one out of the bunch of twenty two tailed cat youkai she was seeing before coughing up blood.

'The small two tailed cat? Wait is it some sort of summon? If so what are its powers?' Kakashi thought as he could see that she had already bled through the bandages so he wrapped more around the wound. "What can Kirara do?"

Kagome she squinted her small eyes shut as she felt a painful tightening in her chest. Nodding her head towards Kirara she watched as Kakashi's one eye widened slightly in shock when the tiny neko [cat] was engulfed in a burst of flames and what emerged looked like a fearsome beast from many legends. "Kira..ra is reall..y s..tro..n…g." Kagome mumbled her eyes shut and she slumped over.

Kakashi looked over the giant saber tooth cat that was kneeling on the ground. It was no doubt that the cat would be the best mode of transportation in this situation. He quickly placed Miroku at the front and Sango, who he didn't expect to be that heavy then accounted the excess weight to come from the giant weapon on her back. He then went over and picked up Kagome. As Kakashi was mounting Kirara's back and she stood up on all fours he thought to himself, as he held onto two handfuls of dirty clumped together fur, that he had never been much of a cat person. Once he lightly dug his heels into Kirara's side she took off-literally, they were soaring through the air.

He was rather proud of himself he had successfully been able to fly a giant cat and managed to get Kirara to land on the roof of the Hokage's tower. Where she transformed back into her smaller form, all of this had been done without them being spotted. They really needed to get better watch guards….

"Ah Kakashi-" Hiruzen Sarutobi or better known as the Sandaime [Third Fire Shadow] stopped immediately noticed how unique the situation was, he placed his pipe down to give his undivided attention to Kakashi who held three children, two on his shoulders, one in his arms and there seemed to be a strange looking neko on the shinobi's [ninja's] head.

"Their names are Kagome, Sango, Miroku and the neko with two tails is Kirara. I found them in the most recently attacked village there are no other survivors. This girl right here, her name is Higurashi, Kagome she sustains more wounds then the other two yet she was momentarily conscious when I found her. I believe she should be monitored closer than the other two. Sango has a minor injuries and a couple of broken ribs. She is carrying around a large heavy boomerang weapon and a sword. The boy-Miroku also has minor injuries and appears to have a powerful Kekkei Genkai called the Kazaana which has the ability to suck things in." Kakashi said quickly spewing out his report as he started to feel Kagome's blood seep into his clothing.

The Sandaime quickly removed the weapons from Sango and called in four medic shinobi. Kirara, Sango and Miroku were taken away to the hospital but at the request of the Sandaime, Kagome was not. Instead her tiny arm was given a cast to stabilize the appendage once they had had set it into a good position. Kakashi looked away when they removed the top from the girl. If he had looked he would have noticed that the wound had healed quite a bit on its own from when he first saw it. Instead of being almost completely through her body it was only three fourths of the way now. The still massive wound was treated as much as the two medic nins could in the Hokage's office, without causing it to scar. Even now the small girl was at risk of having a nasty scar left behind as a horrible reminder of the wound.

"Alright you are both free to go thank you for your time," Hiruzen said glad that the young girl's- Kagome, her wound no longer seemed to be life threatening. One of the two medic nins wrapped the wound up and both of them bowed before returning back to the hospital, as they were dismissed by the Hokage. After a brief moment of thinking of who he was going to have take care of Kagome a face popped into his mind. He knew of someone who would love to take care of a little girl until she got better. "Kakashi I want you to take the girl to the Uchiha compound and hand her over to the Uchiha Matriarch, Mikoto-san."

The masked shinobi nodded. The Sandaime thought this was the best decision. Kakashi let out a sigh as he stood in front of the door to the Uchiha's head housing area. He secretly hoped that the leader of the clan, Fugaku, was still at work. The man did everything he could to show Kakashi how much he hated his guts for having the Uchiha clan's cherished sharingan. Kakashi looked down at the young girl and the harsh look in his eye softened before he sucked it up and rapped his knuckles on the door.

"Coming! Just a moment," A feminine voice called from the inside before the wooden door slid open to reveal Mikoto who quickly dried her wet hands on her apron. Her onyx eyes where already drawn towards the adorable little girl who Kakashi held in his arms. "Why isn't she in the hospital?" Mikoto demanded noticing the cast on the girl's right arm and how torn and bloody her clothing was.

"Uchiha-san, the Sandaime ordered me to bring Kagome-kun here. He wants you to closely monitor her recovery and report anything out of the ordinary to him," Kakashi soon found his arms empty as the Uchiha Matriarch was now cradling the girl. "She's six years old. If I'm correct she's around Sasuke's age."

"Oh Fugaku will learn to like her, Kagome-kun is the cutest little girl ever! She could probably pass for an Uchiha once she gets cleaned up. Don't worry I'll take care of you." The Uchiha Matriarch said to herself sliding the door close forgetting about Kakashi. Kakashi stood there for a moment staring at the door with his arms still up in the air until he registered what happened.

* * *

Mikoto wondered who could ever lay their hands on such an adorable girl like this, as she carefully washed all the dirt from the Kagome's battered body and untangled Kagome's messy hair. Then the Uchiha Matriarch completely redressed all of the Kagome's wounds after applying the clan's special antibacterial ointment.

Once Kagome was all cleaned up the woman clapped her hands together and let out a small squeal. The little girl was even more adorable than before! Mikoto was able to get some clothes from a friend who lived nearby that had a daughter that was all grown up now. After dressing Kagome up she placed the girl in the guest bedroom before making her way to the kitchen. "I hope Sasuke-kun isn't annoying Itachi-chan too much, he really does admire his Nii-san [older brother]." She murmured to herself as she skillfully chopped up some vegetables as she prepared dinner.

"Kaa-san, Tadaima." The voice of her eldest son announced to Mikoto that they were home. Itachi lethargically stepped to the side to dodge Sasuke almost fell on him, as he took off his sandals. His otouto [little brother] was so clumsy.

"Okaeri Itachi-chan and Sasuke-kun." Mikoto replied to her children giving them a warm smile as she welcomed them back. Once her husband returned home she would introduce and explain why there was staying in their quest bedroom, who she was and that she would be staying with them for the time being.

* * *

It had been only three days after the unconscious Kagome finally opened her eyes. By that time most of her wounds had already healed up, the one on her chest was still there though. Kagome's arm was still broken but Mikoto knew that would take the longest to heal. She couldn't help but embrace the dazed small girl while telling Kagome how kawaii she was. With big blue eyes that shone with innocence and her long black hair in two cute little piggley wiggley tails, courtesy of the Matriarch herself, anyone's heart would be instantly warmed with one glance at the adorable girl. So what if Kagome had a veracious appetite and almost polished off everything edible that Mikoto had in her kitchen before falling asleep on the table with a spoonful of rice halfway to her mouth? Mikoto didn't care there was finally another girl around the house!

She hadn't realized how lonely she was feeling before meeting Kagome. Even if the girl had not spoken a word, looked as if all of her was there and she was only momentarily awake long enough to eat, just two days ago. Mikoto had concluded that her body was only acting out on its own accord to get the nourishment it needed. Kagome was almost like the daughter Mikoto was never able to conceive. Of course she loved her two sons with her all her heart, but it just wasn't the same she thought to herself as she tucked her youngest son in bed and kissed his forehead. Then she repeated the exact same motion to Kagome, whom she had moved from the guest bedroom and onto a futon in Sasuke's room just because it was simpler that way. Mikoto slid the door shut and smiled as she made her way to her bedroom to join her husband.

A couple hours later two large blue eyes suddenly opened in the dark. Kagome's body had spent the last five days not only recovering but adjusting her memories that remained (from the encounter with Kanna) to fit her current age. She had just gone through all of the adjusted memories she had up until now, tears rolled down her cheeks and she let out a hiccup as she remembered that her family was now dead. It was dark all around her she felt so alone, where were Sango, Kirara and Miroku? Kagome let out another sob curling up into a ball.

"Ano, please don't cry." Sasuke tentatively whispered after waking up to hear the girl crying. 'Should I ask her what's wrong or ignore her like Nii-san does to me?' He did not know how to comfort another individual. His Chichi-ue [father] that Uchiha's were not allowed to cry, crying was a form of weakness and Uchiha's were not weak.

When the crying showed no signs of stopping Sasuke racked his brain what did his Kaa-san [mother] do when he used to cry? She wouldn't ask him what was wrong; instead she would hold him and tell him everything was going to be alright. Sasuke left the warmth of his bed and awkwardly got his arms around the crying girl and repeatedly whispered, "Everything is going to be alright."

Sasuke let out a groan when the next morning, there were bright flashing lights in his face. He turned away from the light and buried his face deeper into his pillow. There were a couple more flashes before Sasuke cracked one of his eyes open only to watch his mother quickly scamper out of his room. Closing the door behind her Mikoto's grin was insanely wide as she held a camera in her hands. Sasuke did not register what had happened instead he pulled the covers over his head as he rolled over and fell back asleep.

* * *

Kagome let out a yawn and quickly sat up abruptly. She really had to pee, really badly. Throwing the covers off of her body she dashed outside into the hallway where she did a small jig as her eyes darted around trying to locate the bathroom. There were too many doors that looked all alike! Kagome opened the door diagonally across the room she was currently in and held onto the side as she constantly twisted and untwisted her legs together.

Itachi had been lying awake on his bed staring at his ceiling before his attention was adverted when his door was rather violently slid open. Hopefully it wasn't his otouto wanting to practice throwing kunai with him because he wanted to make their Chichi-ue proud when he started at the academy in three weeks. When Itachi wasn't busy training for a mission his otouto could be such a nuisance, at times. Itachi slowly lifted his head up and arched an eyebrow at the girl his Kaa-san was taking care of. Kagome was her name, and she was crazily dancing around all over the place outside his door.

"Sumimasen [excuse me], where is the bathroom!?!" Kagome asked now rolling around on the floor tempted to grab her crotch to keep her pee inside herself for a little while longer. Her bladder was about to explode and all the boy could do was just stare at her, like she was some sort of freak!

The prodigy pointed to the door that was two doors down to her right.

"Arigato [Thanks]!" Kagome said quickly closing the boy's door behind her before running into the bathroom.

Itachi blinked twice looking at his closed door, before a chuckle escaped past his lips. Kagome was as ungracefully as his otouto but she much cuter. Shaking his head placed his head back down on his pillow. The image of Kagome dancing around outside his door, needing to pee really badly made him let out a burst of quiet chuckles. He didn't know if there had ever been a time he had laughed at something because it was actually funny. His laughter was usually caused by other individual's pain or people's screams of terror as they tried to run from him.

Kagome let out a sigh of utter relief as she washed her hands and her face. 'That was a close one, I almost wet myself.' Her stomach then let out a ferocious grumble, making it known to Kagome that she needed some sustenance. She followed her nose out of the bathroom and peeked around a corner.

"Ano…Ohayo gozaimashita [Um…Good morning]." Kagome said smiling nervously as she greeted the woman who was in the kitchen.

"Ah! Ohayo Kagome-kun. It's good to see that you're all better! I'm Uchiha, Mikoto." She replied just as she cracked three eggs into another frying pan, just as two slices of toast came out of the toaster. "Kagome-kun, would you please take those out and put them on that plate?"

"Hai [Yes]!" Just as she had completed the small task given to her, Kagome's stomach let out another deafening roar of hunger. When the woman who somehow knew her name, turned around and blinked owlishly at her, Kagome felt her face heat up from embarrassment. Soon enough she found giant plates piled so high with food, that her body was obscured from a passerby's view. "Itadakimasu! [Thank you for the food!]"

"Mikoto what is-" Fugaku stopped when he noticed the hills of food on his table slowly disappearing, in only a couple more minutes they were completely clean. His onyx eyes came into contact with two bright blue orbs that looked back into his eyes while a piece of bacon hung from a tiny mouth. "…"

"This is Kagome-kun, the girl I've been helping recover for the last five days," Mikoto said as she placed two freshly cooked eggs on his plate that had two pieces of toast on it. Her husband folded his legs to sit at their table his arms resting near his plate. Mikoto on the other hand, piled up the empty plates and placed them in the sink to be washed. "Kagome-kun was the food good?"

"Un! Doumo arigatou gozaimashita! [Yeah! Thank you very much!] Mikoto-san." Kagome said bowing as much as her satisfied bulging stomach would let her. She unknowingly had Mikoto to thank for being able to move around normally. When Kagome was unconscious Mikoto stretched out Kagome's limbs every couple of hours to make sure when Kagome woke up she wouldn't have any problems moving around from being so stiff and weak.

Mikoto sat down to eat with her husband, looking at him curiously as he slightly narrowed his eyes at Kagome. She rolled her eyes at Fugaku as she bit into her piece of toast. If she knew her husband as well as she knew she did, he was probably criticizing and scrutinizing every inch of the orphan girl this very second.

Fugaku observed the strange girl who his wife had become very fond of. He had to agree with Mikoto that Kagome could almost pass as being part of the Uchiha clan. With flawless pale skin and dark hair, but the blue eyes was a dead giveaway that she was not. Other than looks the girl did not even come close to having any potential-power wise, to be an Uchiha. As a matter of fact she was shorter than average for children her age and appeared to be very weak. Fugaku didn't care about weaklings, so long as they were not his own children. A knock at the door drew Fugaku's scrutinizing gaze away from Kagome, the head of the Uchiha house hold got up to answer the door.

"Uchiha Itachi is being requested for an urgent mission." A voice could be heard from the door.

"I'm here." Itachi announced before his father could call for him. He had all his stuff already together.

"H-hai then onegai [please] come with me-" The shinobi stuttered, this was the first day on the job he was surprised to learn that this was THE Uchiha Itachi he bowed to show his respect for the child prodigy.

"I know my way there," Itachi said curtly before acknowledging his father "Chichi-ue." Then Itachi made sure his sandals where securely on his feet before opening the front sliding door.

"Itachi-chan don't you want some breakfast?" Mikoto questioned coming out from the kitchen.

"Iie [no]." Then with that reply Itachi was gone.

"I am going to work now." Fugaku stated before he too was also gone.

"Kaa-san what's with all the noise?" A sleepy Sasuke asked rubbing one of his eyes as he finally emerged from his bedroom his hair tussled and shirt disheveled.

"Itachi-chan was sent on a mission and your Chichi-ue just left for work," Mikoto answered getting ready to prepare Sasuke's breakfast. "Go get cleaned up then come eat. After that you can show Kagome-kun around the Uchiha compound."

Kagome followed Sasuke who pointed to certain places before he led her to the Uchiha training area. Sasuke was throwing his brand new set of Kunai trying to hit the centers of five targets. Her eyes automatically followed the movement of each sharp projectile as they spun through the air.

"Wanna try?" Sasuke asked after he had thrown the kunai a couple more times, his best right now was 3 on dead center and the other two were just outside of the center ring. There were no children his age to play with in the Uchiha compound and his Chichi-ue strictly forbad him to play with the village kids. In his Chichi-ue's words, they weren't good enough to play with an Uchiha child.

"Un!" Kagome replied smiling as she fumbled to hold onto all five Kunai in her tiny left hand. She had to use her left hand to throw the projectiles since her right arm was stuck in a cast. She looked at each target and tossed the first Kunai. It flipped madly in the air before embedding itself into the bark of the tree. The next one she threw bounced off the target leaving a small dent, the one after that didn't even make it to the target and the next one ended up embedding itself in the tree behind her. Getting frustrated Kagome stuck her tongue out the remaining target. She closed her eyes and threw it. When she opened them she jumped up and down clapping, it had barely embedded itself on the outermost ring. "Your turn!"

They had been taking turns throwing the Kunai at the targets for a quite awhile before Sasuke grinned triumphantly. He managed to get his kunai to land in the center of each target three times in a row now. While Kagome on the other hand, was just happy when all of her Kunai landed on the target. They went back when Mikoto called them in for lunch then after eating they threw Shuriken into the targets.

At the end of dinner when they were clearing up the plates Sasuke summoned enough courage to tell his father what he had accomplished. "Chichi-ue I managed to get my Kunai and Shuriken in the center of the five targets a couple of times!" Fugaku just placed his hand on his son's head slightly ruffling his hair before walking off.

"That's great Sasuke-kun soon you'll hit the centers of the targets all the time!" Mikoto praised kissing her son on the forehead. Watching as he rubbed the spot with his sleeve making an unhappy face.

"Kaa-san I'm too old for that now! Strong shinobi don't get kissed on their foreheads before they go out on a mission!"

"Iie, but they do grow stronger as they try to protect the things they love most and fight for the right reason. Okay wash up and off to bed you two. Oyasuminasai [Have a good night]" Mikoto dictated giving both Sasuke and Kagome a gentle push in the direction she wanted them to go. 　

"Sasuke-chan?" Kagome questioned the darkness walking over to him.

"........Un…?" Came the sleepy grunt from the tired boy, who was sleeping on his bed this time. He let out a light snore signaling that he had already fallen asleep.

"Arigatou [thanks] for last night." She whispered giving him a quick peck on the cheek before going back to the futon that had set out for her and closing her eyes.

* * *

The next six days flew by, they read books, played tag (though Kagome spent most of the time being 'it') and hide and go seek (Kagome didn't know how she did it put she could always feel where Sasuke was hiding). One of those days Mikoto and Kagome dressed Sasuke up as a girl while he was sleeping and took pictures with him. Kirara had sniffed her out and had visited her on many occasions careful not to get seen by any of the Uchiha's.

Kirara let Kagome know that Sango and Miroku were alright and they were at the hospital she did this by bringing her their hospital bands. Sometimes Kagome would sit on the sidelines watching when Sasuke's Chichi-ue wanted to teach his youngest son something. When she got tired of watching them she found Mikoto in the kitchen cooking something and willing to teach Kagome everything she knew about cooking. Mikoto was delighted to find out that Kagome was a really fast learner and shared with Kagome her family's favorite recipes.

"Kirara are you sure this is the place?" Sango asked following the tiny neko into a more secluded part of the village. Kirara nodded her head in confirmation and continued to lead them to where Kagome was staying. "Miroku hurry up or you'll get left behind!"

"There are so many attractive girls in the blessed village of Konoha!" Miroku said to himself before he had to jog to keep up with Sango and Kirara. He kept getting distracted by all the giggling girls stopping to look at them before getting yelled at by his female companion.

They had woken up in the hospital completely healed three days ago. They spent the day after they woke up getting checked over and over again by nurses who kept them two more nights making sure they gained back some of their muscle strength. One nurse then gave them some medicine before she finally deemed them ready to be released. The same day they were released they were brought to the Hokage tower and registered themselves in Konoha, telling the Sandaime, who was the village leader, what had happened to their village.

The two children were absolutely positive a man named Naraku was the cause of it and they didn't know of any living relatives. The Sandaime decided that he would grant citizenship to Konoha to Sakimitama, Sango, Kushimitama, Miroku and Higurashi, Kagome. He enrolled all three of them into the ninja academy and had been nice enough to provide them with somewhere to stay. They spent the night at their two bedroom one bathroom apartment on the rundown side of the town but it was completely free of charge. The Sandaime also told them that they would also be getting a small sum of money at the beginning of each month.

As soon as Sango and Miroku woke up they started their search for Kagome. Hopefully Kagome wasn't in any danger. They both knew that she had a knack for getting herself into dangerous situations. What they found strange was that both of them didn't feel like something was right. They didn't know exactly what was wrong but they just knew something wasn't the way it was supposed to be. Both of them settled on the fact that their families were dead, though secretly both knew that wasn't the real reason. Soon enough they forgot about their weird feelings, as they lay in the hospital beds once they were brought to a giant tower and introduced to the Sandaime who returned the weapons found on Sango and gave them some new clothes.

"Miroku are you actually going to knock on the door or just stare at it all day?!" Sango hissed under her breath, with Kirara perched on her shoulder. They were just standing in front of the door to the biggest house in the entire compound. She knew that it meant their friend was staying in the head of the clan's home.

"Just be patient Sango, maybe someone will come outside and I will not have to knock at all." Miroku's replied before swallowing the sudden lump that formed in his throat, which was caused by Sango's intense stare.

"Okay then move, I'll do it." Sango said letting out a sigh as she brushed past Miroku to knock on the door when it suddenly slid wide open.

A tall scary looking man had opened the door. Fugaku frowned as he looked at the shocked faces of two small children who appeared to be only a year older than Sasuke. Before he left for the Uchiha Military Police Force he spoke behind him, "Mikoto there are children at the door."

"Alright sweetheart, have a good day at work, and who might you two be?"

"Sango! Miroku!" Kagome called running out of the house and hugging the both of them.

"Oh so you are Sango-chan and Miroku-chan! I'm Uchiha, Mikoto and Kagome-kun has told me all about you guys, please come inside," Mikoto said and before either Sango or Miroku could protest she ushered them into her house and seated them at the kitchen table. "Wow what a kawaii neko! What's her name?" Kirara was immediately air born and held by the Uchiha Matriarch. "Her fur is so soft and beautiful!"

"Kirara." Sango replied slightly frightened by the exuberant lady swinging Kirara around in circles. Sango was disgusted with Miroku who was drooling as he stared at Mikoto's ass. Well she supposed it was better than what he would normally do-which was….? She couldn't remember but it was definitely more perverted then what he was doing now.

"How have you guys been?" Kagome asked they looked a lot better from the last time she saw them which was twelve days ago.

"Good, good! We are all enrolled into the shinobi academy and we now have a place to stay," Miroku answered before dramatically clutching his shirt where his heart would be. "But it hasn't been the same without you, I was so alone and the nights were harsh and I couldn't even see your lovely face to comfort me-"

"Mirkou why are you holding my hands?" Kagome asked slipping her hands out from his clutches before scooting away from him, that's right- she remembered Miroku is an ecchi da [pervert].

"Well Uchiha-san we really must be going now-" Sango started but was cut off by Mikoto.

"You can't just stay for breakfast? Kagome-kun and I made some delicious pancakes and there is enough for everyone! I'll get Kirara a nice bowl of warm milk and I'm sure I have some left over fish somewhere in the fridge."

And as if on cue both Miroku and Sango stomach's rumbled at the thought of food. Without them having to say anything plates piled high with pancakes where placed in front of them with a cup full of freshly squeezed orange juice. While everyone was eating Mikoto was going through rooms full of things that her family would be willing to give to the poor orphaned children. By the time everyone was done eating Mikoto had returned with three large boxes and one medium sized one.

"Mikoto-san what are all those boxes for?" Kagome asked when Mikoto finally sat back down at the clean kitchen table. Sango and Miroku had washed and dried all the dishes that everyone had used while the Matriarch was tossing things into boxes.

"They are things for your new home. There is just couple of things that I am more than happy to give away. The smaller box has clothes in it." Mikoto said smiling as she sipped her cup of tea.

"Well domo arigatou gozaimashita for taking care of Kagome all this time, for the breakfast and for these boxes Uchiha-san." Sango said bowing deeply after writing down their address for Mikoto who had asked for it. When Sango was done she handed the paper to Mikoto who stored it away in her apron, so she couldn't lose track of it. Sango then picked up two of the big boxes while Miroku was going to take the last two. They both knew that Kagome's arm was broken by- that youkai- Naraku.

"Domo arigatou gozaimashita Uchiha-san." Miroku bowed deeply as well before picking up the two boxes.

"It was no problem at all Sango-chan and Miroku-chan you are welcome here anytime," Mikoto said smiling as she watched them go out the front door. "You have such good friends Kagome-kun. Make sure you always show them how much they mean to you."

"Okay! Iro iro arigatou [Thank you for everything] Mikoto-san!" Kagome said before hugging the Uchiha Matriarch around the neck.

"I want you to have this; it's to make sure you will visit me every now and again. You can are welcomed to come stay here whenever you wish," Mikoto had handed Kagome a spare key to the house. Giving the girl one more hug she stroked the two tailed neko receiving a purr of gratitude in response. "Sayonara [Goodbye] Kagome-kun, Sango-chan, Miroku-chan and Kirara-kun."

"Kaa-san what's with all the noise?" Sasuke asked leaning in the frame of his door after he had finally dragged himself out of bed.

* * *

Who else has done the infamous 'I have to pee' dance?

Best review for the last chapter: Shiori Yume


	3. Meeting

Pages: 12

Words: 5,427

Chapter Three: Meeting

* * *

Kagome had to admit their new home was rather cozy once the holes in the walls were patched up (some of which were accidentally made by Kagome and her cast), the hideous peeling wallpaper was replaced, everywhere was cleaned-especially the bathroom and everything Mikoto had given them in boxes was unloaded and given a place. Just to name few of the items that was in the boxes: pans, towels, bed sheets, soap, apron, cups, utensils, pots, bowls, a toaster, socks, toilet paper, slippers, pillows, books, a kettle and clothes and-actually that was everything that was given to them.

It had taken them three entire days to clean the place up, but they could finally call it, home. During that time, after making holes in the wall, Kagome had removed the cast on her arm; she knew it was already fully healed, plus it had started to smell funny. She was sharing a room with Sango. Their room was bigger than Miroku's but he had a room all to himself.

"I'll see you guys later I'm going to go find the village's training area," Sango announced as she maneuvered Hiraikotsu out the small front door. Her family would have wanted her to be training if they were still alive. She promised herself that she would get stronger so she could protect Kagome and Miroku so she would never have to experience the loss of her loved ones….. again. "Come on Kirara let' go."

"Oh, I too will be going to the village today, I wish to talk to the villagers and introduce myself to them." Miroku decided with a silly grin on his face because by 'them,' he meant to every girl he could find in the village.

"I'm gunna go exploring." Kagome told the others as they all left the building together but once they had reached the village everyone went their own separate ways. Her fingers tangled themselves in the lose braid she wore her hair in.

She had visited the village once already, but she had been with Mikoto and they had gone grocery shopping. Looking around she spotted a familiar looking gravity defying silver head of hair. It took her a moment to recollect who it was. "Kakashi-san! Miroku, Sango, Kirara and I are all better now thanks to you!"

"Oh? That's good." Kakashi said looked at the bouncing girl who was now walking beside him from the corner of his eye. In a couple of years he was sure she could have a posy of boys trying to obtain her heart.

"So whatcha up to?"

"Up?" Kakashi looked up towards the clouds in the bright blue sky before letting out a wistful sigh. "I'm trying to get lost on the road of life."

"AH HA! If it isn't YOU my eternal rival, I see you have a most youthful companion with you today Kakashi-san!" A loud obnoxious shadow called from the rooftops. Then it propelled itself into the air and did a series of many complicated looking flips through the air before landing with feet together, head back and arms spread out. All in all, the stranger's landing position basically made him look like a capital 'Y'.

Meanwhile Kakashi and Kagome were already halfway down the street far, far away from the bright green clad form. Kakashi would look in the directions Kagome pointed to and give her a short response. Happy with the reply they both continued on their way leaving the heaving green form by himself still standing in the 'Y' position.

"Huh? KAKASHI-SAN! You really think, that I will let you get away from me do ya?" A green blur ran in front of Kakashi and Kagome who both stopped. Kakashi watched mildly interested when Kagome's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates at the sight that stood right before her innocent eyes. Thick bushy eyebrows…bowl cut hair…….tight green spandex….bright white teeth ……..and orange legwarmers.

"…..You're……so…." The young Kagome looked away before turning back with a big smile on her face. "STYLISH!"

"HA HA AHA, DID YOU HEAR THIS YOUTHFUL GIRL'S WORDS KAKASHI-SAN! This young child has called me 'stylish'. I am the beautiful green beast of Konoha Maito, Gai at your service but I am also Kakashi-san's eternal rival! So far I am in the lead with 9 to 8! What do you say to THAT Kakashi-san?!"

'How can she think this freak is cool?' Kakashi pondered to himself as Gai continued his spew out nonsense and doing weird poses, quickly doing some hand signs Kakashi disappeared from the street while thinking, 'I hope the Sandaime-sama has a mission for me.'

"If you think I will let you get away this time Kakashi-san you're WRONG! If I allow you to get away I'll do 100 laps around Kohana, on my hands," Gai turned back around only to find that Kakashi had alright disappeared. "ALRIGHT YOU WIN THIS ROUND KAKASHI-SAN BUT NEXT TIME I'LL BE SURE TO GET YOU I PROMISE OTHERWISE I'LL DO THREE HUNDRED LAPS CARRYING AN OLD WOMAN ON MY BACK!"

Then Kagome spoke the words that brought tears to the young Gai's eyes, "Do you think I could join you on your run?"

"OF COURSE YOU CAN CHILD WHO'S YOUTHFUL SHINE, WHICH SHINES ALMOST BRIGHTER THAN MY SMILE!" Gai said showing off his pearly whites as he slipped on some gloves before elegantly flipping over into a handstand position. He waited watching as Kagome flipped and flopped all over the place as she tried to get into a steady handstand position. The young girl probably did not have enough upper body strength yet to support herself he concluded with narrowed eyes.

"Ano [Um], I'll just use my feet." Kagome said as she ran after Gai who enthusiastically took off leaving a dirt cloud behind him. After her tenth lap Kagome slowed down leaning against a building as she tried to regain her breath. Gai had passed her about eighty seven times already and was still going strong.

Gai was just about to pass Kagome again when he noticed that she had stopped running, even if her youthful energy was burning brighter than before! He had just the thing that would inspire her to continue running. "Kagome-kun I have something for you," He flipped himself over back and dug his hand around in his brown sack before pulling out a small set of leg weights, and before she knew it they were already wrapped around her legs. "How do they feel?"

"Mou [Geeze]…heavy." Kagome answered as she tried to walk as she normally did.

"Good good!" Gai said nodding happily before going back into his handstand and running off to do more laps.

Kagome was able to do two more laps with the weights on her legs before she called it quits, it was way past lunchtime too and she was hungry from burning off so much energy. Gai who had finished all his laps had to have been deaf not to hear Kagome's stomach rumbling for food. Her eyes automatically lit up when Gai said he would treat her to lunch, he did not know what he was getting himself into. He probably thought Kagome would probably eat a handful of grapes but once Kagome was full he was almost out of cash. "Thanks for treating me to lunch Gai-san!"

"Now that we have replenished our youthful energies we should work on our upper body strength! 120 pinky pushups should do the trick." Gai had already done twenty of them by the time Kagome had gotten on the ground into a push up position. As he went up and down using just his pinky's Kagome strained to do four normal pushups before flopping to the ground in defeat.

"Gai-san do you want your weights back?" Kagome asked her entire body was sore, but she was happy that she had made a new friend despite his unique appearance and attitude.

"No youthful Kagome-kun you should wear them all the time, think of it as a gift from the most handsome green beast of Konoha!" Gai said stretching his limbs out, nothing felt better than a good workout than a good workout with a youthful person. The next four days, where like the previous ones Gai would bump into her and they would train together (only Kagome thought of them as playing a game) however today they would not be able to, it was the day he was being called away on his mission.

"Gai-san do you think can you show me one of your cool ninja moves?" Kagome inquired with an irresistible grin on her face. "My friend, Sango, said that she saw this shinobi split himself into three! Can you do that?"

"Your youthful story has indeed inspired me! It would be MY HONOR to show you!" Gai went through the hand signs Hitsuji, I, Ushi, Inu, Mi, Tora [Ram, Boar, Ox, Dog, Snake, Tiger]  
"_Bunshin no jutsu_!" Two Gai's appeared in a puff of smoke, meanwhile the real Gai thought he had seen something flickered in Kagome's bright blue eyes. It was almost like they had briefly flashed a blood red color. Gai immediately brushed it off thinking that he had just imagined it.

"Sugoi! [Cool!]" Kagome exclaimed rubbing her eyes stopping so she could clap her hands together and applaud Gai.

"Well youthful Kagome-kun I have been assigned a mission and must leave Konoha I BID THEE FAREWELL!" Gai said as he danced around in what he thought was stylish and cool. To most onlookers they had to tear their eyes away from the sight thinking of it as disturbing as the image burned into their brains forever. Then Gai flashed the good guy pose, his right thumb up while his left one was on his waist while he bared a blinding white teeth, before running off.

"Okay bye bye Gai-sensei!" Kagome said waving cutely not noticing that she had accidentally called him teacher.

'G-G-Gai-SENSEI? NOW THAT HAS THE MOST YOUTHFUL RING I HAVE EVER HEARD, TO IT!' Gai thought to himself.

"I should go visit Sasuke-chan! I haven't seen him in days, maybe we can play together," With that in mind Kagome skipped her way over to the Uchiha compound and spotted Sasuke sitting by himself on his front steps. "Ohayo [Morning] Sasuke-chan do you want to play today?"

"Iie...MyChichi-ue [father] said he would come home early today so he could teach me something," Sasuke replied before a giant grin spread across his face. "Maybe he'll show me the clan's basic fire technique!"

"Un! Then you could show me how cool it is, well I'll see you another time then," Kagome said making her way out of the compound since she felt that Fugaku was on his way over. She wandered around the village until she felt something familiar; it was the feeling of utter loneliness. Wondering where it was coming from Kagome followed the trail until it led her to a big tree with a swing tied to one of the thick branches, where a boy about her age sat. Adults dragging their children behind them would whisper 'monster' and 'freak' under their breath as they passed the blonde boy who had his head down staring at his lap. "Hi do you wanna be friends?"

"Go away… your mommy and daddy will just grab you away and then yell at me……" Was his quiet response and then he brought one of hand up to wipe at his eyes.

"Etto…[Well…], I don't have any parents and even if I did I'd still want to be friends with you!" Kagome replied fiercely with a smile on her face. Something about the boy made her feel as if she should know him but she was a hundred percent sure she had never seen him before in her life.

The boy sniffled and rubbed his face some more before he brought his head up to look at the person who was talking to him. "I don't have any parents either, wait- you said that you'd be… my… friend?"

"Of course I will be! I'm Higurashi, Kagome anata no namae wa nan desu ka? [What is your name?]"

"Uzumaki, Naruto…. I've never had a friend before."

"Well Naruto-kun I promise I'll be your friend no matter what! What do you do for fun?"

"I like to play pranks." Naruto said his blue eyes lighting up.

"Pranks?" Kagome's eyes shone with mischievousness and excitement as she rocked from the ball of her foot to the heel with a grin on her face.

"Un! I've decided that I want to be the next Hokage of Konoha so that everyone will have to recognize UZUMAKI, NARUTO!" Naruto shouted jumping off the swing and pointed to a passerby who quickly scurried away.

"Naruto-chan sugoi desu [you're amazing] and ganbatte [you can do it/ try your hardest]." Kagome said her with a smile on her face while her eyes looked like an upside down 'u'. So she didn't get to see the pink that tinged Naruto's face as he laughed nervously before grabbing Kagome's hand and dragging her off to play some pranks.

By the end of the day Kagome and Naruto were rolling on the ground laughing so hard they had thrown buckets full of water off of buildings, camouflaged themselves on fences or as rocks before popping out and scaring people, Naruto had replaced someone's pie with a giant rock that he and Kagome had colored on with crayons to look like a pie, they had switched grocery bags that belonged to two different people around, thrown Naruto's realistic looking plastic rats into the women's bath house and listened as they jumped screamed in absolute terror. Naruto had pretended to steal his frog wallet from Kagome and ran away as villagers chased after him while Kagome fake cried and they had tied a string from one end of a pathway to the other side and watched as people tripped over it.

"YATTA! [HURRAY!] Kagome-kun this has been one of the best days ever!" Naruto announced pumping one of his fists into the air with the biggest grin on his pie-smeared face.

"You should come to my place for dinner I wanna introduce you to two people, Sango nee-san [older sister] and Miroku nii-san [older brother] they'll like you," Kagome told Naruto as she continued to lead him to where the rundown building was. "Ikuzou! [let's go!]"

"Ara? Chotto matte! [Huh? Wait a minute!] How did you know where I lived?" Naruto asked scratching his head as the old building he lived in came into view.

"What do you mean? You mean, you live here to?!" Kagome wondered aloud as they both walked through the front door.

"Uh huh! And we live on the same floor….. right beside each other?!" Naruto exclaimed as Kagome brought him to where she lived. He fumbled around in his pocket momentarily before pulling out a brass key that had his room number on it while Kagome pulled hers out from around her neck they compared numbers and they were one digit off from one another.

"Sugoi!" They both said at the same exact time their blue eyes wide in awe.

"Tadaima [I'm home] I brought a friend home with me." Kagome said removing her black sandals.

"Okaeri [Welcome back] Kagome, is this friend of yours a cute girl by chance?" Miroku asked emerging from his room with his eyes sparkling and his left cheek had a fading big red handprint on it.

"I, Uzumaki, Naruto am not a girl!"

"Oh," Miroku sighed dejectedly then he felt puzzled at the buzzing sensation of familiarity within the boy. "I'm Kushimitama, Miroku it's nice to meet you Naruto-chan. Oh Kagome, Mikoto-san dropped by while you were out she brought over two big boxes and filled our fridge with her leftovers I thanked her for them on behalf of everyone, she is just too kind."

"Sou desu ka? [Is that so?] Have you already eaten?" Kagome asked as she rummaging through the fridge. "Naruto-chan you can go sit at the table and talk to Miroku while I warm this food up."

"Iie. I haven't," Miroku shook his head as he sat down across from the rather short boy. He was determined to figure out what about this boy that was causing him to feel as if he should know him. He folded his hands together and rested his chin against his entwined fingers as he stared down into slightly nervous blue eyes Miroku made a mental note of the strange whiskers on Naruto's face. "So Naruto-chan what do you think of Kagome?"

* * *

By the time Sango had finished her rigorous work out the moon was already out shining brightly almost mocking her. There were never enough hours during the day to train. Standing up straight she wiped the sweat from her brow and hoisted Hiraikotsu onto her back. Kirara let out a small growl as she stretched out her muscles after a long day of sparing with her owner. Then in a burst of flames the neko was once more in her miniature form so she could jump onto Sango's shoulder giving a small purr of contentment.

"Tadaima, hey who is the new guy?" Sango asked while she drank a cup of ice cold tap water offering a bowl of it to Kirara only to find Kirara rubbing herself against Naruto's legs sounding like a motorboat (from all the purring)

"This neko has two tails and it is just so kawaii!" Naruto pointed out in a high pitched voice pointing to Kirara's wagging fluffy appendages before nuzzling his own face against Kirara's furry one while laughing.

"Her name's Kirara and I'm Sakimitama, Sango."

"I'm Uzumaki, Naruto."

"Hmm…"

"Don't worry about us. I'm just going to borrow Sango for just a quick moment you two carry on with your fun and games now." Miroku said as he dragged a struggling Sango into his room by her wrist.

"Miroku! You better have a good reason for this." Sango crossed her arms across her chest, clearly not amused.

"I wanted to know whether you felt it or not."

"Felt what?"

"A strange feeling when you're around that boy, Naruto, it's rather difficult to explain. It just feels like there is something familiar about him, but you can't put your finger on what it is," Miroku explained pacing around his humble abode. "Maybe it's just me then."

"Iie, I know what you're talking about I felt it too. It's not the youkai inside of him that's making me have these feelings either," Sango admitted sitting down on the edge of Miroku's bed. "Everything seems so strange. It seems like things shouldn't be this way, but I don't remember how it's supposed to be."

"Well Naruto certainly doesn't seem dangerous especially if Kirara warmed up to him that quickly, perhaps we should rejoin Kagome and Naruto and we might figure out what it is about the boy that is making us feel this way," Miroku paused noticing how tried and worn out Sango had been looking the past couple of day. "And Sango it's great that you're taking your training seriously but your body also needs to rest. Onegai [please] just keep that in mind."

"Alright." Sango mumbled before leaving Miroku's room her head hurt she just wanted to get some food into her body before going to bed. Taking Miroku's advice into consideration she decided that maybe tomorrow she would go explore the village instead of training.

Naruto reached his arms outward and let out a big yawn, tears appeared in the corner of his eyes and he sleepily rubbed them away before scratching his back. Looking at Kirara who had curled up into a small ball on his lap he felt all warm and fuzzy on the inside. He looked up and watched as Sango put the rest of the leftovers from the pot Kagome had heated up, into a bowl and sat at the table and dug into the food, with a turn of his head he watched as Miroku re-made his bed smoothing out the wrinkles from the cover. Naruto was just happy that these people were living their life the way they normally would, they weren't glaring at him from the corner of their eyes or whispering bad things about him.

Then Naruto's eyes turned toward the girl who made him feel….accepted. So this is what being happy truly felt like. He didn't want to move despite the numbness in his legs because maybe it would dispel everything and things would go back to the way they always had been. His eyelids suddenly felt very heavy so he decided that he would close them only for a moment.

He spent the next day bonding with everyone after sleeping over at their place. Naruto had told them his story how some of the villagers had always treated him throwing rocks at him and calling him names, while others pretended as if he didn't exist, even some of the other children had started doing the same copying their parents. In turn for Naruto's childhood story each of them in turn told him theirs (the pieces how they remembered it) and about a man who had killed all of their families his name was Naraku. The name alone sent involuntary goose bumps to his skin, sweat to his brow and unpleasant shivers down his spine. He had always known there were other people out there who also had hard lives until now he just never met any of them.

Like Naruto found out that Sango's entire clan was slaughtered by her younger brother, Kohaku who had been controlled by Naraku. Miroku's family was cursed by Naraku and he had something in his hand called the Kazaana, which Naruto learned was giant black hole that sucked everything in its path up and Miroku's father was killed by it and he was raised by his grandfather. Kagome couldn't remember much about her life she just remembered coming back from going camping with Sango and Miroku to find her Kaa-san, Otouto Souta and her Jii-chan dead, their bodies where so mutilated and mangled everyone's hearts had been removed from their chests.

Naruto could see the sadness in everyone's eyes that he had brought on by asking them about their lives. Picking up Kirara he started to dance around their living room singing 'ala la la la' bringing a smile to everyone's face.

* * *

Kagome and Naruto both shared a laugh as they came out of the public restrooms this had been a prank Kagome had come up with. Naruto had gone into the men's washroom while Kagome had gone into the women's and they had gone from one stall to the next locking the door then sliding out (since they were so small) and repeated until all the doors were locked. The next prank was Naruto's idea and the people below them screamed at them from below shaking their fists and muttering obscene words under their breaths before stomping off angrily.

They had climbed up a tree hid in the branches and dropped rotten eggs on the unsuspecting villagers. The best part came was when they had to run away from the shinobi [ninja] who chased after them trying to apprehend the kid who was causing all the trouble. They quickly split up and went separate ways to better their chances at not being caught by the angry shinobi. Kagome had been lucky; thanks to running and doing all those exercises with Gai she was a lot faster and had more stamina than the average six year old shinobi.

"OI! LEMME GO!" Naruto screamed failing his arms as he tried to get away from his capturer.

"I don't think so! I'm taking you straight to the Sandaime you trouble causing gaki [brat]." The man let out a laugh squeezing the squirming boy tighter as he held the troublemaker underneath his arm.

"Ano….Mister," Kagome started off with her act sniffling and cutely rubbing at her eyes with her hands. Mustering up the saddest voice that Naruto had taught her how to use, to achieve the ultimate effect she quietly sniffled again before saying, "I lost my neko somewhere do you think you could help me find him?"

The shinobi almost felt his heartbreaking into pieces at the adorable girl's sad story. "Gomen [Sorry] but I have to bring his gaki to the Hokage he has been causing a lot of trouble for all the nice villagers." Looking under his arm his eyes almost bulged out of his skull alarm bells going off in his head when he noticed he was carrying a sack of potatoes with Naruto's face sticking his tongue out at him while doing a peace sign. He quickly jumped around looking all over the place before sighing in defeat. He supposed he could help the girl find her cat instead but when he turned back around she had disappeared.

"I just saved your butt!" Kagome danced around in an empty alleyway while Naruto grumbled with his arms crossed as he pouted on the ground.

Naruto had to hand it to Kagome she had learned the ropes of being prankster in just half a day. "I would have eventually found my own way out," he grumbled pouting even more. "I know let's pop out and scare people again I'm going to use the rock disguise this time."

"Okay!" Kagome watched as Naruto hid under his rock while she sat in a tree, the fence disguise had been torn so she was trying to figure out how she could disguise herself Naruto's first victim came along. Her mouth formed a tiny 'o' as she realized it was the same guy who she had saved Naruto from capturing before, should she try and warn Naruto? Nah, he said he would have found a way out now was his chance to prove it.

Meanwhile Naruto snickered under his rock shaped box he quickly peeked out underneath to see feet approaching. 'A little closer…come on just a little more........just take a couple more steps……okay….. NOW!' He popped out from underneath the rock successfully scaring his victim, soon Naruto realized who it was once the guy started yelling at him.

"Hey I know you! You're the gaki from before! Don't think for a second that you're going to escape from me a second time." The Shinobi quickly dove for the boy using rope he had found on a pathway to tie up Naruto's arms and legs. He picked up the noisy hog tied kid and made a bee line straight for the Hokage office.

"AHHHH! I'M BEING KIDNAPPED SOMEONE SAVE ME FROM THIS STRANGE MAN!" Naruto's voice could be heard throughout the entire village. "HE'S TOUCHING ME!"

"Mou. [Geeze.]" Kagome whispered affectionately feeling slightly bored now that Naruto had been apprehended. "Maybe Sasuke-chan isn't busy today!"

"Kagome-chan! You got your cast off _already_?" Mikoto asked happy to see the girl's face again, it warmed her heart.

"Hai! [Yes!] My arms all better now. Can Sasuke-kun play today?" Kagome replied before asking about the person that she came to see in the first place. She didn't know how lucky she was to be able to walk in and out of the Uchiha compound at her own free will. Many people were envious of the small girl and her privileges.

"Oh, Sasuke-chan should be over at the Uchiha training area he's probably watching Itachi-chan."

"Arigato Mikoto-san!"

"Make sure to come back for lunch it will be ready in an hour or so," Mikoto happily called out to the girl's back as she ran in the direction of where the training area was. "I wonder what those things wrapped around Kagome-chan's legs are?"

Kagome was in awe at Itachi's amazing skills and how perfect everything he did was. She sat on the sidelines with Sasuke and they both felt as if they were not worthy of being in his divine presence as he trained. Sasuke had seen his father training many times before but it would never measure up to the way Itachi executed every one of his moves with deadly precision.

"It's time for lunch Sasuke-kun, tell Kaa-san that I'm busy training."

"Hai but nii-san you know she won't be happy, she doesn't like it when you skip meals," Sasuke reminded his brother who just turned his back to him, rolling his eyes Sasuke jumped off of the log. "Ikuzou [let's go] Kagome-kun I bet Kaa-san has made something really good."

"So are you guys excited to be starting at the academy two days from now?" Mikoto asked as she washed the dishes.

"Un! I want to prove myself to Chichi-ue by receiving top marks at the academy!" Sasuke announced his goal as he got up from the kitchen table. "Kaa-san we'll see you later."

When they returned to the training area where they had last seen Itachi. He was no longer there so Sasuke had decided he was going to try and copy some of the moves he had seen Itachi do. His face turned slightly pink from embarrassment when he heard Kagome giggle as he had slipped on the grass and fallen onto his back. "Why are you laughing?" He questioned rubbing his forehead feeling rather disgruntled at the thought of being laughed at.

"Because Sasuke-chan was just being kawaii [cute] ne?"

"Sou desu ka? [Is that so?]" Sasuke murmured feeling his face heat up from the compliment as he lay on his back he watched as Kagome spread her arms out and dropped on her back landing next to him.

"That cloud looks like a pile of skulls!" She said with a smile on her face as she pointed at one of the fluffy white clouds before letting out a sigh of relaxation. "This one looks like a sword."

"That one looks like a big inu [dog]." Sasuke joined in pointing towards the cloud that looked like a massive floating beast.

"Well this cloud looks like a severed arm!"

They continued pointing out certain clouds to each other and before they knew it the clouds had faded away into wisps and the sky was stained with purples, oranges, pinks and blues. Sasuke and Kagome both sat up once they heard Mikoto calling them in for dinner. Kagome bowed showing her respect to the Uchiha patriarch who was taken aback at the obvious growth that she had in her energy since the last time he had scrutinized her. As they all ate Mikoto's wonderful dinner Fugaku was already coming up with a training regime for his youngest son. Once dinner was over both Fugaku and Itachi excused themselves from the table and retreated to their rooms.

"It's getting late I don't want Sango nee-san [older sister] and Miroku nii-san [older brother] to worry about me. Arigato for dinner Mikoto-san." Kagome announced as she got up from the table with a smile on her face.

"Oh, well you should take these leftovers home with you to give to Sango-chan and Miroku-chan. Let me wrap them up and then you can be on your way," Mikoto said as she bustled around her kitchen retrieving a small black box out from one of the cabinets and pulled out a rather thick wad of cash from the box that had been labeled as 'emergency money'. She handed Kagome both the leftover food and money. "Here you go Kagome-chan!"

"Nani? [What?] Mikoto-san I can't take this money from you," Kagome said shaking her head looking to Sasuke for help. He just shrugged his shoulders at her, munching on a rice ball. 'Mou he's no help at all' she thought as she backed away waving her hands while holding the bag of leftovers. "You've already given us so much already, the leftovers are enough."

"Kagome-chan you will take this money right this instance and you will make no more complaints about it," Mikoto said in a way that reminded Kagome of her late Kaa-san. Once the cash was in Kagome's hands Mikoto gently pushed the girl outside. "Now that's a good girl say hello to Miroku-chan, Sango-chan and Kirara-kun for me."

"Un oyasuminasai [good night] Sasuke-chan and Mikoto-san Arigato!" Kagome quickly hugged Mikoto before receiving a 'oyasuminasai' from Sasuke and Mikoto. She grinned as she ran to her apartment feeling rather victorious, because at the last moment she had managed to give the money back to Mikoto by slipping it into the pocket of the Matriarch's apron when she hugged her.

* * *

What do you think of Gai-sensei?

Best review for the last chapter: LuLuCrazeD


	4. Two Rocks

Pages: 11

Words: 5,573

Chapter Four: Two Rocks

* * *

Kagome's sneaky efforts appeared to have been futile because the very next morning when Miroku went to check their mail box he found a thick envelope address to them from Uchiha Mikoto. He brought the envelope back along with the junk mail they received. While Sango and Kagome ate their breakfast they watched in amusement and curiosity to what made Miroku's eyes bulge and jaw almost hit the floor.

"Sore wa nan desu ka? [What is it?]" Sango was getting peeved when Miroku wouldn't reply so she snatched the envelope away from him and her reaction was almost identical to Mirkou's. "This must be- iie, it has to be… a mistake."

"Lemme see," Kagome said looking over Sango's shoulder before taking the envelope and moaning. "Mikoto-san tried to give that to me yesterday but I gave it back to her."

"Then… this can't possibly be a mistake…..all this cash- all of it… is for us?" Miroku asked in disbelief before pinching himself on the back of his hand. Yelping when he felt his skin squeezed together he did it a second time to be sure and then once again after that.

"We have to find some way to give it back to Mikoto-san. Wakatta? [Got it?]" Sango decided standing up and placing both her hands on their kitchen table.

"Iie! [No!]" Miroku cried out that money would allow them to buy things that they wanted and support Kagome's insatiable appetite.

"Nani? [What?] And why not?" Sango asked giving Miroku a blank stare.

"It doesn't matter, no use anyway," Kagome groaned holding out a small slip of paper with Mikoto's elegant Uchiha cursive writing on it. "It says, 'If you try and return this I will come over there and give you a lecture and I always have Sasuke-kun as my hostage. There are a bowl and a pair of scissors nearby. Sincerely yours, Uchiha Mikoto. PS. Onegai [please] feel free to visit anytime.' Then she put a couple x's and o's."

"Huh? That…doesn't sound that bad of a punishment," Sango admitted sitting back down in her seat. "And what's with that other part, about the bowl and scissors?"

"Mikoto-san's lectures are long and scary! I heard her giving one to Fugaku-san about spending more time with Sasuke-chan and less time working, Fugaku-san is a man set like stone and even he was defeated by Mikoto-san's words," Kagome explained, "And I don't know about the Sasuke-kun part, I should ask him."

"Well then I guess we can't return it! Wouldn't want to endanger poor Sasuke-chan and hear that lecture from Mikoto-sama would we?" Miroku said grabbing the money while he set it all out on the table along with the other left over cash the Sandaime had given them.

Sango leaned her head in the palm of her hand, rolling her eyes at Miroku who was busy counting out the money. Once Miroku had finished he divided the money out into three equal parts and pushed the two piles out of the way. Kagome tilted her head to the side when Miroku recounted the remaining money pile out the sat there for a moment drumming his fingertips against the table before taking that pile and made three equal piles with it.

"This one is for emergencies, this one is for groceries and these ones are our own spending money which we can choose to spend any which why we want. However we have to make sure we make it last," Miroku dictated at he pointed to the piles quickly digging through one of the boxes Mikoto had left with them previously he pulled out a bamboo looking cylinder, which he placed the emergency money in and a beat up looking red pouch he put the grocery money. "I've never been so happy! Money, _moooooooney_, monnneeeeyyyy!"

"Kagome let's just ignore him," Sango said picking up her pile of cash fiddling with the corner of one of the notes. "I can't believe we're going to start at the shinobi academy tomorrow, it feels just like yesterday we were just fixing up this place."

"Un it does," Kagome agreed before taking her cut of the money and getting up from the table she went into her room she came back out without it. "I'm going to see what Naruto-chan is doing does anyone want to come with me?" Receiving head shakes in the negative Kagome ventured out into the hallway alone.

* * *

"Who is it?" Naruto grumbled as a knock on his door disturbed him from pouring a bowl of cereal. He never had any visitors.

"Naruto open up its Kagome." The voice said from outside his door.

"Kagome?" He wondered what she wanted with him, complaining to himself as he got up from his table he unlocked the door.

"So what happened after you got caught?" Kagome asked curious to know what happened when someone got caught. Her imagination ran wild, "Did they coat your entire body with honey then throw you into the forest? Force you to drink a gallon of prune juice? Put ants in your pants? How about shoving so many marshmallows into your mouth until you couldn't breathe? Tickle you with a feather?"

"Iie! The old man just wanted to know why I was disturbing the villagers he just rubbed his wrinkly face with his hand and told me to stop. Then he reminded me that the academy starts tomorrow before letting me go," Naruto said in between shoving big spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth. Spitting everywhere when he spoke, luckily for Kagome ducked just in time. With determination burning in his eyes he jumped up onto his table and stood there in a heroic looking position with his chest puffed out and hands on his waist. "I'm gunna prove myself to all the other kids at the academy, they'll worship and praise me for my skills."

"Ganbatte [You can do it] Naruto!"

"I hope we're put in the same class Kagome," Naruto then started to feel panicky. He liked the feeling he got inside of him when he was around her, it was peaceful. "Ano, but what if we aren't put in the same class- you....you'll make other friends and they'll steal you away from me."

"Mou, Naruto I promised you before that I'll _always_ be friends with you and I don't break my promises!" Kagome reassured Naruto slinging her arm over his shoulder. "Now let's get Sango and Miroku and go do something fun!"

* * *

"Arggggh! I just can't stand him!" Sango briskly paced around the Konoha training area with her fists clenched together tightly as she vented out her frustrations to Kagome. "He thinks he better than everyone else, staring at me like-like as if I was some sort of baka [idiot] to low to be in his presence! So what if he received the highest marks out of all the students in his year, last year. Urgh! You know what? I'm going to take his title away and show that arrogant _Hyuuga, Neji_ just who the real baka is! Just because he belongs to the _Hyuuga_ clan doesn't mean he can go around treating people like dirt. Pfft, prodigy and genius _my ass_ he's a yarou [jerk]."

They all had been attending the academy for more than three months now their report cards were due to come home with them any day now. Sango had found a rival in Neji, it made her sick to know that he had a fan-club; girl's swooned at the mere sound of his voice and threatened to beat anyone up who dare touched their precious 'Neji-kun'. Growling under her breath Sango punched and kicked the wooden training log until it was heavily dented from all the abuse. Then pulling Hiraikotsu off her back she swung the massive weapon forward and it sliced cleanly through the entire length of the training log, straight down the center. Standing there her chest heaving from anger and the sudden exertion she ripped Hiraikotsu out from the split wood sending a shower of wood chips everywhere.

The small girl waited for Sango to get the anger out of her system and be there for her when she needed to spew out insults about some guy she had met at the academy called Neji. Kagome thought the academy was interesting, she was happy that she was in Sasuke's class but at the same time she was also sad that she wasn't in Naruto's. She liked the academy; she was excited to be meeting new people and she liked learning about chakra. She even got to see Sasuke's chakra in action. It was when she had gone to the Uchiha compound one day after school wanting to know if he wasn't busy, so they could play together, but when she got there he was blowing fire out of his mouth!

"_Katon goukakyuu no jutsu _[Grand Fireball]." Sasuke called out after sucking as much air as he could into his mouth and once he had completing the hand sequence his father had taught him a couple of days ago, putting his hand to his mouth he blew as hard as he could.

"Sugoi desu [You are amazing] Sasuke-chan!" Kagome exclaimed after rubbing her eyes, it must have been from the heat, it was making her eyes dry and made her entire body all warm from the heat radiating off of the massive ball of flames.

"Iie, it is still too small it needs to be bigger!" Sasuke rubbed his singed chin with the back of his hand before executing the exact same hand sequence again. "_Katon goukakyuu no jutsu_!" Another fireball burst from Sasuke's mouth slightly bigger than the previous one. 'I have to withhold the chakra in my chest longer before I blow it out, alright here it goes.'

All she remembered, as she was forced to snap back into the present by the sound of Sango yelling, was that the last ball of flames Sasuke had produced had to have been the most impressive one that irrupted from his mouth. Once her mind was back in the present she let the confusion show on her face as Sango was waving her hands in the air yelling something to her.

"Abunai [Watch out] Kagome!" Sango yelled again to the young girl who just sat there looking rather confused as sound of beating wings assaulted her ears, the grass they stood on swayed in the strong gust as a shadowy form blocked the sunlight from above them.

The words rapidly sunk into Kagome's skull and registered in her brain because soon after she managed to roll away just in time, prior to a large niwatori [chicken] looking monster landed right where she had been sitting. It had leathery bat like wings protruding from its white feathery body, three pairs of glowing green eyes, razor sharp notches in its beak and it laid a large single olive green egg that rolled away and immediately started hatching. Keeping her eyes glued to the egg she watched from the corner of her eyes as Sango swung Hiraikotsu at the clucking mass.

"Let go you overgrown chicken!" Sango yelled insulting the strange creature as she wrestled to get her precious Hiraikotsu back from what she had assessed to be a niwatori youkai [chicken demon] beak. From birth she had been taught about every kind of youkai that existed and what their bones where good for making. Tori youkai [bird demons] had hollow bones they where good for making projectile weapons.

Pieces of egg shell flew everywhere kicking up a cloud of dust making it hard to see as the monster inside broke out of belching out a deafening shriek as it spotted its first meal, a small child with blue eyes. Acid drool dripped from the monster's mandible and sizzled on the ground as it thought of how delicious the ningen [human] was going to taste. Using both its sharp clawed hands it reached out to grab the girl only to have her dodge both attacks, receiving two claws full of dirt instead. Hungry and frustrated the konchuu youkai [insect demon] double its efforts in a desperate frenzy to nourish itself.

Kagome thought it was just weird that a niwatori, though it was a hundred times bigger than a regular chicken and looked strange (but she was sure she had seen weirder) gave birth to a konchuu [insect]. She was jumping all over the place trying to avoid the pincers that aimed to crush her body in between the jagged surface. Kagome was not carrying any weapons on her except the three keys she kept around her neck, one from Mikoto to get into the Uchiha's house, one was to her house and the last one was the spare key that Naruto had given her to his apartment. She highly doubted the small brass objects would do harm to the armoured body of the konchuu. Jumping to the right she avoided the right pincher, which got stuck in the dirt, but she had to jump out of the way again her finger tips brushing against the ground as she slid backwards narrowly avoiding being crushed by the left pincher.

"Hey, are you alight?!" Sango called out using her peripheral vision to make sure nothing bad had happened to Kagome. Sango suddenly turned around, still holding onto Hiraikotsu, to kick the niwatori in the side of its head a third time, letting out a grunt as she finally freed her giant boomerang weapon.

"Un! This is actually fun," Kagome said as she jumped back to dodged another one of the konchuu's attacks. However she got distracted by Sango's grunt and stopped to look at Sango who was currently using Hiraikotsu to shield her body from the niwatori's sharp beak. "Itai! [Ouch!]" She hissed stepping back as one of the konchuu's pincers nicked the left side of her face drawing blood.

When she stepped back Kagome didn't realize she was putting her foot into one of the holes the konchuu had made. Her right foot was really jammed deep into the hole in the ground. She did everything she could as she tried to get her foot loose. Kagome really didn't want to have to get a wooden stick leg then she'd have to hobble around for the rest of her life looking like a pirate! With that image in her mind she tugged harder on her limb then she tried to use the ground as leverage to get her foot out, but it just wouldn't budge. The ground shook as the konchuu youkai ran towards her its arms were back. It could see that this time its prey was stuck and wouldn't be able to get away. Mandibles that looked like an ant's only two hundred times bigger headed straight towards her ready to shred through her body.

'Was this really _the end_ for her? To be killed by some giant stupid konchuu youkai what a pathetic way to die.' Kagome closed her eyes waiting for the impact barely heard Sango screaming at her to get out of the way. Her eyes then flew open 'Iie! She couldn't die. People needed her to live…she wanted to live!' Determination and adrenaline flowed through Kagome's entire body, her blue eyes narrowed and she held both her hands out in front of her as she tried to relax and summon her chakra to protect herself. She had done it in class with the other kids, hers was this abnormal blackish color.

Sango threw Hiraikotsu severing both of the niwatori youkai's wings, causing it cluck angrily before chasing after her threatening to peck her eyes out. Using the niwatori's head as leverage she used it as a step as she propelled herself into the air to catch Hiraikotsu. While in the air Sango watched as Kagome just sat there as the konchuu youkai ran towards her. "Kagome! You have to get out of the way, what are you doing just sitting there?! Get out of the way!" The niwatori's clucked turning is head and grabbing Sango by the leg slamming the ningen into the ground as she tried to get away to help the younger ningen. "You dumb pile of feathers, let go of my leg!" Using Hiraikotsu to protect her stomach and chest from any possible attacks she used her other foot to kick the niwatori's three eyes.

Once free Sango quickly stood up and brought Hiraikotsu down cleanly severing the head straight off. She still had time to save Kagome, who sat there holding her hands out in front of her trying to protect herself. Sango ran as fast as she could only to have the body slammed to the side as the giant feathery body of the niwatori hit into her. Its head lay on the ground still decapitated as its body ran all over the place-headless. She wanted to smack herself in the face, how could she have missed its jugular vein? Grabbing Hiraikotsu she threw it so pin wheeled cutting the niwatori completely in half but got lodged into the trunk of a tree. There was no time to retrieve it she'd have to get it later. Turning back to where Kagome was Sango found that she had lost her voice and couldn't yell as her knees buckled below her body. She couldn't do anything but watch what was about to happen next.

The strangest sensation flowed through Kagome's body as she had been able to summon brilliant light pink 'chakra' in order to protect herself. It came out in one enormous blast completely disintegrating the konchuu youkai leaving only a pile of ashes where it had been. Kagome sat there breathing heavily looking at the palms of her hands in disbelief. Had she- really done that? But why wasn't it the normal blackish color, how come it came out all weird and pink? It didn't feel anything like when she used her chakra in class.

* * *

Many miles far away secluded high in the mountains, away from civilization a brown eye opened from meditation, it had been-?! The eye closed again and the figure breathed heavily opening the eye again. Yes it had been, this one was strong and it had been extremely far away. In the direction of- taking out a roll of parchment paper from its usual place in the wall it was slowly unravelled with a wrinkle old hand. The eye travelled across the map moving a finger until it lay on Konohagakure [Village hidden in the leaves]. The hunched figure had decided to embark to Konoha gritting its teeth noticing that the pain was growing, getting much worse as time went by. Closing the brown eye again it remembered how the reiki had felt- such pure power. The figure hobbled around gathering supplies and papers needed for this journey. With everything packed the person threw on a black cape then nodded before closing the door behind itself. The last time it had experienced such pure raw power, must have been over a century ago. The figure was sure, had to be.....her-it had to be...._Higurashi, Kagome_.

* * *

Sango had regained control over her legs and ran over to Kagome and instantly started hugging her whispering 'baka' over and over again hugging her tighter each time. With unshed tears in her eyes Sango wiped them away hoping that Kagome didn't notice as she used her hands to help dig Kagome's leg out of the hole. "Why didn't you attack it?"

"I don't have any weapons." Kagome informed Sango as she brushed the dirt off of her pant leg and removed the leg weight (the thing that had made it so Kagome couldn't pull her leg out of the hole in the first place) to shake the dirt out before putting it back on. The ashes had magically been blown away in the wind, leaving no trace of the konchuu's body behind.

Sango got an idea quickly standing up and limping over to the bloody carcass of the niwatori youkai. Sango, brandishing the hidden blade in glove part of her fighting outfit sliced into both the leg parts of the niwatori as Kagome went over to the tree where Hiraikotsu was embedded in. Kagome with her feet firmly planted on the trunk of the tree, using every muscle she had in her body, was able to yank the stubborn weapon out.

"If people come ask what happened let me answer them." Sango said as she grabbed the now free Hiraikotsu from Kagome who nodded and broke the end parts of each of the femurs managing to pull them out, completely undamaged. It took immense skill to remove a youkai's bone from its body, if the person wasn't careful removing the bone it could split, and then it would be useless for the purpose Sango wanted them for. The sound of the villagers running over to the scene of the crime caused Sango to hide the giant femurs, which wasn't exactly an easy task.

Since Sango wasn't particularly talented in molding her chakra she surprised herself when she somehow managed to disguise the two femurs as rocks with one of the jutsus she had learned at the academy. Quickly she tossed the 'rocks' into nearby bush just in time before a horde of villagers arrived along with two scout shinobi which were probably patrolling the area and came to investigate what happened.

The two scouts must have been around sixteen years old one of them had spiky hair and a clean white bandage going across his nose wearing the Konoha hitai-ite [forehead protector] across his forehead. While the other boy only showed one of his eyes his longish brown hair coving his other eye, this boy's chin was covered by his outfit he wore the Konoha hitai-ite more like a hat. They made sure to land in front of all the villagers telling them to keep back as it could be dangerous. The crowd whispered back and forth to each other.

"Just look it is another one of those…..youkai….just what Konoha needs more of those vile beasts." A voice hissed sarcasm thick in the bitter elderly person's throat.

"Did you just say 'youkai'?!" Rose the panicked voice of a 'concerned' more like nosy, villager who questioned the elderly one in front of him.

"That's the girl that's been hanging around that… monster, she must be trouble as well!" An elderly man said holding onto the hand of his young grandson who tried to get closer so he could see what all the adults were looking at.

"Iie! Just look at her, you must be mistaken. That child is clearly Uchiha Mikoto's daughter she's been hiding from the rest of the world, until now. I once saw Mikoto-san and her getting groceries together late in the afternoon!"

"What do you suppose that thing on the ground is?" Another villager asked the person beside him who shrugged uninterested in a conversation. He just came here because he was dragged here because his gossip loving wife didn't want to come alone.

"That girl looks like a Uchiha…. But I've also seen her hanging around the village with that freak and Fugaku-san would never let any of his beloved children close to…that forsaken troublemaking gaki [brat]."

"Who is the girl standing next to the shorter one? There is blood on her face! And what's that she's holding in her hands-it looks like a giant boomerang…covered in more blood!"

"Alright people, onegai [please] for your own safety all of you have to take a giant step back." The one with his chin covered told the gossiping crowd.

"Oi! [Yo!] Both of you, what are your names?" The one with the spiky head of hair asked pointing towards the two girls who stood there trying to look innocent. Lazily glancing over his shoulder he watched as his partner Izumo secured the scene.

"Hmpft, it's rude to ask people their names before giving yours first!" Kagome said crossing her arms and turning around to face the opposite direction.

"Ha ha, my, my Kotetsu where are your manners?" Izumo laughed teasing his friend while he kneeling on one of his knees and slung his arms around the little girl's shoulder with a smile on his face. He noticed that she had a cut on her cheek that must have been a couple days old from the looks of things. "Konichiwa, watashi no namae wa Izumo des [Hello, my name is Izumo] and he's Kotetsu. So may I get your names now?"

"Hai! Watashi wa [Yes! My name is] Higurashi Kagome!" She replied turning back around with a smile on her face giving a small bow low enough to show that she was polite.

"Watashi wa Sakimitama,Sango." Sango said also bowing and really hoped that the two shinobi didn't poke around the bush she had thrown the two niwatori youkai femurs, disguised as rocks, in. She wanted to use them to carve out some weapons from the strong aerodynamic material. Youkai bones were really one of the best materials to carve weapons from. Her father had given her and her brother lessons, in: how to properly care and carve youkai bones, passing on their clan's treasured skills and abilities.

"So can either of you two," Kotetsu stopped himself just in time, his eye twitching violently wanting to call them gakis [brats]. "Tell me why you were here and what happened."

"I can here to train and Kagome decided to come along with me. Then this niwatori-" Gesturing to the remains "-attacked us, so we had to defend ourselves by fighting back, it made all those holes in the ground over there-"

"_It wanted to eat us_." Kagome added in dramatically.

"-yes it wanted to eat us, so I took Hiraikotsu-" Sango gestured to her bloody weapon, "and cut off its head, but it didn't die and still came after us. It grabbed me by the leg-" she showed them her leg that had jagged bleeding cuts shaped like a triangle "-so in return I kicked it in the eyes making it let go of me. Then I threw Hiraikotsu again this time it cut straight through it and got lodged in that tree over there. Kagome pulled it out just before you guys got here."

"So what was that bright light we saw?" Izumo asked slightly shocked that this eight year old kid- a girl no less- had managed to slay such an impressive beast while wounded. Glancing at the monsters remains he had to agree… it did kind of look like a chicken…a really creepy, headless one. That was starting to give off a really putrid odor.

"When the niwatori died it burst into a bright light, we had to shield our eyes from it." Kagome answered without missing a beat rubbing the back of her head in pretend embarrassment. She had seen Naruto doing this action many times before when he was embarrassed.

"Alright then, that's all. Kotetsu can you carry Sango-chan to the hospital to get her wound checked out while I get some people to clean up this mess."

"Oi! [Yo!] There is no way I'm going to carry this gaki and get her blood all over my brand new uniform, when she can limp perfectly fine," Kotetsu replied snorting before walking off in the direction of the hospital, watching as the nosy villagers started leaving once all the questioning was over. "Come on ikuzou [let's go], I don't have all day."

"Matte [wait]," Sango said feeling rather irritated by this guy's attitude, giving Hiraikotsu a quick clean on the grass she pretending to have even more troubles walking than she really did, as she limped over to him she held Hiraikotsu out to him. "Could you carry this for me, onegai?"

"Mochiron [Sure] whatever, give it here." Kotetsu said waving his hand really not knowing what he was getting himself into. How heavy could it be? The gaki was holding it with one hand. His eyes bulged out of his head when he held the unexpected weight of Sango's weapon. Teetering from side to side not wanting to drop it on his foot by accident Kotetsu fell forward smashing his face into the ground, receiving a big mouthful of dirt.

Suddenly both Sango and Kagome instant recalled a distant memory of a friend they used to have that slammed his face into the ground just like Kotetsu had. Except he had long silver hair and two triangular inu ears perched at the top of his head, he had beautiful gold eyes, wore a red kimono and carried an old beat up sword around. They both felt a tight constriction in their chests. This boy that they had seen had to have done something bad to hurt them. Izumo's laughter at his friend made the memory fade from their minds.

"Urusai na! [Shut the hell up!] Izumo it's not as light as it looks," Kotetsu stated spitting dirt and clumps of grass out of his mouth. So what if he didn't train every day? He was still a fine example of a successful shinobi. "Plus I wasn't ready."

"Wakatta [Got it]," Izumo went silent only momentarily before bursting out in laughter again saying, "I guess I didn't know how much of a weakling my partner was!"

"Fine if you think it's easy to carry, here you can try to carry it." Kotetsu said heaving up the giant boomerang so he could dump it in Izumo's arms.

Izumo found himself repeating the exact same actions as his partner had only carrying it only slightly longer before his face plummeted into the ground. The word 'osuwari [sit]' echoed through Kagome's head as she watched the same mysterious inu eared boy slam his face into the ground, going deeper and deeper into the ground until a crater shaped like his body was left behind. Then a small hand tugged on hers and she looked down to see a young boy with pointy ears, orange hair, fox feet, and a big fluffy tail swaying happily behind him. The name the boy spoke was masked by static like noise '-just never learns does he Kagome?'

"Mou…It's fine I'll carry it," Sango said normally limping over to Izumo who had removed his face from the ground coughing up pieces of grass. She swung the giant weapon over her back with such ease, Izumo's and Kotetsu's eyes grew large from shock, and a shudder passed through their bodies. It was no wonder she killed the monster, how strong was this eight year old- really? "I know the way to the hospital too, so don't bother."

"I bet you didn't know that Sango nee-san is really, really strong." Kagome said giggling a little when she saw the look on their faces.

"Che, you don't say," Kotetsu clicked the tongue to the roof of his mouth as he shook his head trying to remove all the dirt from his hair. "Izumo you clean up here I'll inform Hokage-sama of what happened."

"Whatever." Izumo said dusting himself off feeling embarrassed that an eight year old managed to wield such an impressive weapon while he had struggled just to carry it. He was sure if he had been more prepared he would have been able to carry it just fine. At least that's what Izumo told himself.

He looked at the utterly destroyed training log that had to be restored and sighed. Then something caught his attention- he spotted two rocks sitting near a tree. Determining that they could potentially be dangerous and cause an ankle to be twisted if someone stepped on it- or worse it would be the cause a broken face-if someone happened to fall on it. With a slight shudder his picked up the surprisingly light rocks and was about to toss them in the forest when he felt a small tug on the hem of shirt.

"Ano….Izumo-san," Kagome knew that Sango had wanted the bones from the youkai and she wasn't about to let Sango down not especially after Sango had done so much to disguise them too. "What are you going to do with those rocks?"

"I was going to throw them into the forest they're a hazard to a training shinobi." Izumo answered raising an eyebrow as he stared into the girl's bright blue eyes that searched deep into his brown ones.

"Can I have them? I've always wanted a pet rock, but what's better than one pet rock?"

"Wakaranai [I don't know] a real pet?"

"Iie! You're silly the answer is: _two pet rocks_ are better than one pet rock!" Kagome said as she plucked them out of Izumo's hands before skipping away from him. "We're going to have so much fun, we'll have tea parties and you can come shopping with me. We'll stay up late talking for hours and you guys can even help me cook if you want to that is. What did you say that you'd love to? Oh goodie I'm so excited too I can't wait to bring you two home!"

"Children these days are really weird." Izumo muttered to himself his entire body slackened leaning heavily to the right hand side as he watched the small girl skip off happily chatting to the chunks of sediment. He hadn't noticed that the cut that had been on her face was gone, it had completely healed.

* * *

Who do you think the mysterious figure is?

Best review for the last chapter: ChocolateBunnyChan


	5. Massacre and the Stranger

Pages: 12

Words: 5, 844

Chapter Five: Massacre and the Stranger

* * *

"Miroku can you come help me with these hand signs again. Grrr, I don't understand what I'm doing wrong this time." Sango grumbled getting frustrated Ninjutsu was really not her forte, she much preferred Taijutsu. However her desire to beat Neji, to make her late family proud and prove to herself that she could do it drove her to want to succeed.

"You see Sango the 'Ushi' [Ox] is done this way," Miroku formed the sign perfectly. "Your pinky and pointer fingers are supposed to be up and the others down. You have it so only your pointer finger is up- hai that's right now and your 'U' [Hare] is supposed to look like this, your other thumb isn't supposed to be sticking out like that."

"Okay I think I'm getting them now. So this is 'Ne' [Rat], 'Ushi' [Ox], 'Tora' [Tiger], 'U' [Hare], 'Tatsu' [Dragon], 'Mi' [Snake], 'Uma' [Horse], 'Hitsuji' [Ram]-"

"The Hitsuji is done like this," Miroku interrupted Sango and helping her correct the positioning of her fingers. "Do it again if you get it wrong."

"-Hitsuji' [Ram] 'Saru' [Monkey], 'Tori' [Rooster]-"

"Tori should look like this."

"-'Tori' [Rooster], 'Inu' [Dog], and 'I' [Boar]," Sango smiled when she finished all the hand signs, she swore by the end of the week she'd have them memorized down pat. No Hyuuga Neji was going to insult her for not knowing how to properly form any of the hand signs. "Let's go through them _again_ Miroku."

"Hai, whatever you say Sango…" Miroku crying waterfalls choked out; he really wanted to be in the village talking to all the cute girls that were around. Instead Sango had dragged him out here to the training area that had been restored from when Kagome and Sango had been attacked by the youkai. They had told Miroku what really had happened. Like he was saying, so instead of wooing the village girls, he was stuck here, helping Sango memorize all the hand signs, which in his opinion where really one of the simplest things to learn. He really didn't get why Sango had such issues with them.

"I don't know why you never answer questions in class Miroku or hand in any homework. I'm pretty sure if you tried, you could be getting better grades than that Hyuuga, Neji," Sango admitted going through the hand signs again stumbling over a few of them but was able to correct her own mistakes. "What are you doing instead? I'll tell you what, you're failing almost all of your classes right now and everyone must think you're a baka [idiot]."

"Hmm, I can't help it if I'm distracted by few the cute girls talking to me. Since all the other ones ignore me and will tear me apart if I try and talk to them because they're apart of the 'Neji-kun fan girl club,'" Miroku defended himself with a sigh. "And as a matter of fact, I do, do all the homework in fact I do it more times than I need to."

"…Why is that?" Sango asked giving him a blank stare, completely stopping her progress in making hand signs.

"I get the girl's from the Neji-san fan club to pay me to do their work for them so they have more time to observe their target of affection. I am doing everyone a favor!"

"Doesn't the sensei notice the writing is all the same?" Kagome asked with her hands over her itchy eyes.

"He would have if I didn't copy their style of writing. After all doing all those sheets I don't want to complete mine, I figure I've already done the homework and gained the knowledge and I know this myself why should I have to prove it to someone. I believe the only person I need to prove something is to my own person."

"Bleh, I'll never understand you Miroku but I still think you could be getting better grades than _Hyuuga, Neji_." Sango said spitting out the name in disgust, continuing to practice the hand signs. She was even starting to pick up the speed as she completed all the hand signs almost flawlessly now.

"Neji-san is getting like a _ninety six_ percent average. Perhaps even higher than that in every single one of his classes, I don't think anyone could get higher than that."

"Whatever," Sango said feeling defeated, how was she supposed to get better than that?! "Kagome don't rub your eyes you're going to make them turn red."

"But my eyes are itchy." Kagome complained as she rubbed her eyeballs. She was watching Miroku teaching Sango hand signs and whenever they formed a hand sign she felt something funny in her eyes so she rubbed them and Sango flying through the hand signs made them feel even funnier as she deciphered each and every single sign that was formed. She knew all of them now just by watching Miroku teaching Sango she even knew the ones Sasuke had used to create the Katon goukakyuu no jutsu.

"Kagome your eyes are _completely_ red, you should go back home and wash them out with some water then go to bed." Miroku said as Kagome squinted her eyes that were red, it looked really serious it could be some kind of eye infection.

"Fine, but I wanted to tell you guys that Sasuke invited me to his house tomorrow and to stay for dinner. I haven't played with him in a long time. He was always busy doing homework or training." Kagome said holding her hands to her eyes to keep herself from rubbing them anymore they actually felt a lot better.

"We'll see how you are tomorrow." Miroku said patting his younger companion on the shoulder.

"They feel a lot better now," Kagome said uncovering her eyes slowly opening them after she wiped the tears that had formed at the corners of her eyes, away. Low and behold they looked completely normal-and more importantly they were blue. A tad red from rubbing them but they were definitely not the red eyes they say before. Had it been their imaginations? "So can I go to Sasuke-chan's place after school and stay until dinner?"

"All right then."

"Yippie!"

* * *

"Come on Kagome better hurry up, Kaa-san's food is going to get cold!" Sasuke said running through the streets. His brown messenger bag, held two empty bento boxes, was hitting his thigh as he ran. They were racing to see who would get into the Uchiha compound first.

Straight afterschool they went back to Sasuke's house and grabbed a bento from Mikoto-san. They went to the Konoha training area and were having so much fun they didn't realize it had gotten late, even with the full moon was out, shining above them they didn't realize. It was only when their tummies started to rumble from hunger did they decide to go back. Neither of them carried or had anything that would tell them the time. Sasuke challenged Kagome to a race saying 'go' and running off laughing at her, before it she could say anything.

"It's not fair you got a head start," Kagome said pouting as she ran behind Sasuke she was just glad she was spending time with her friend. "Oomph itai, why'd you stop?"

"….I thought I saw- never mind it's not important…" Sasuke mumbled vaguely recalling the image of a hunched form perched on top of a pole, but when he looked there was nothing there.

"I don't feel so good Sasuke…" Kagome said kneeling over as the tightening in her gut intensified she had a really bad feeling about this as they stood just on the outskirts of the Uchiha compound.

"Y-you're just hungry! That's it, you're hungry come on Kagome, I'm sure Kaa-san left some food for us." Sasuke said helping Kagome off the ground.

Both of their eyes widened as they saw the lifeless bodies of some of the Uchiha clan lying mangled in the middle of the street. Looking towards each other they immediately took off running towards the Uchiha's head house. They were careful not to step on any of the bodies they leapt through the air wanting to get there as fast as they could. Sasuke tried to open the door but found that it had been locked.

'Kaa-san never locks the door…' Sasuke thought frantically searching through his bag trying to find his key. He never really used it on account that the door was usually left open. Who would dare attack the Patriarch or Matriarch of the Uchiha clan?

"I got it." Kagome whispered shakily as she pulled on the string of her necklace that had three keys dangling quickly grabbing the right one she unlocked the door. Sasuke rushed in immediately one the door was opened leaving Kagome standing there her eyes shut tightly hoping for the best she ran in after Sasuke who was yelling for his mother and father she yelled out their names also.

"KAA-SAN!?! CHICHI-UE!?!"

"MIKOTO-SAN?! FUGAKU-SAN!?"

"Kagome…Sasuke, don't come in…" Was the weak response, then it was quite.

'WHY CAN'T I MOVE?' Sasuke yelled in his head hearing two thumps on the other side of the door. 'MOVE!' His entire body was shaking like a leaf. 'MOVE!' He had to… help them! Finally he took his right hand and brought it up to open the door.

"Sasuke…I'm scared." Kagome whispered behind the taller boy who was visibly shaking. She could feel that there was something…just…evil waiting for them on the other side of the door. She received no reply. All she heard was the squeaking of the wooden door being pulled open. Her view was blocked by Sasuke's body once the door was completely open.

"KAA-SAN! CHICHI-UE!"

"Tch."

"NII-SAN?! [Older brother?!]" By that time Sasuke had ran into the room yelling at Itachi who stood there fully dressed in his ANBU uniform.

Kagome stumbled into the room the feeling in her stomach had doubled, it was even worse than what she had experienced previously, when she was just outside the compound. A vase had been thrown to the ground in the struggle, blood was smeared on the floor and in the center of the room where Mikoto's and Fugaku's still bodies.

Itachi narrowed his Sharingan activated eyes at Sasuke who continued his bothersome yelling. He shut the door and went to poked Sasuke in the forehead to shut him up only to stop short of jabbing Kagome in the forehead instead. 'She moves quite fast, this little one does.'

"I won't let _you _hurt Sasuke-chan. Leave him alone!" Kagome yelled with her arms spread out willing to use her smaller body to protect Sasuke's. Her blue eyes where shut tight as tears flooded her eyes after getting a good look at Mikoto, the woman she had so many good times and treated everyone so kindly, now was dead. Kagome bit her lip. Fugaku also, despite his gruff attitude he had grown to like Kagome, if he was in a good mood, he would give her a small pat on the head as he passed her in the hall.

"Baka." Was the one word that Itachi let slip past his lips as he easily tossed Kagome's body against the wall as if she was nothing more than a rag doll. He watched as Sasuke's eyes immediately went to her body that gave a loud thud as it hit the wall laying still, he could see anger rising from within Sasuke.

"You're foolish otouto [little brother] hiding behind a girl? Utterly pathetic, _Mangekyo __Sharingan_!"

"…..I DON'T WANT TO SEE… THIS... NII-SAN! WHY… ARE YOU DOING… THIS?! IIE! EERGGGGRRRRRRR….! IIE! IIE! STOP IT! WHY? IIE!"

His screams made Kagome's eyes snap back open turning over she coughed up some saliva and spat it onto the floor. The screams coming from Sasuke's mouth pierced her ears, was this really happening? Using the wall to help her stand up she clumsily ran over to Itachi, who was just standing there staring at Sasuke with eyes that looked like pinwheels. He just knocked her away again, harder this time. She hit the other wall knocking off the Uchiha banner when her body impacted with the hard surface. "Onegai [please]," She coughed out using her forearms to drag herself over to Itachi "Yamate! [Stop!]" She whispered reaching out to grab onto the prodigies blurry left foot. Only her efforts were thwarted when she was hoisted up by his cold pale hand that had wrapped itself around her delicate neck, she shut her eyes.

Itachi smirked as he slowly squeezed the life out of the girl ignoring her plea of, "Y..am..ate….on..e..gai… d.,on't…..hur….t… Sas..u..ke…." Her haunting blue eyes opened begging him; starring deep into his Sharingan eyes, she looked confused. He stopped himself from crushing her windpipes momentarily. This was the same girl that had made him laugh the first time they had met. When she rolled on the ground needing to go pee really badly, he almost felt like laughing at that memory but he stopped himself. He would not kill her; she wasn't a part of the plan anyways. Itachi cracked his fingers on his opposite hand the exact same time her head lolled forwards, passing out from lack of oxygen.

Sasuke had curled up on the ground laying there watching Itachi with semi-blank eyes as he choked Kagome drool slid out from his open mouth. He slowly regained his bearings as he watched dazed as Itachi snapped Kagome's neck. Sasuke assumed that she had a broken neck, and that was what caused her head roll forward. Sasuke's eyes followed as her body as Itachi released his grip on her neck and she was thrown across the room breaking the sliding doors before her body hit the wall and fell forwards with a thunk. "KAGOME!"

"Pathetic. It's your fault, she got in the way."

"Why Nii-san? Why did-? How could-?" Neither of those questions could be finished as Sasuke struggled to lift his head up off the ground.

"I wanted to see if I could." Was the simple response, clearly not the one his otouto was looking for.

"That's…it?! That's the reason you killed _everyone_, for that… just to see if you could actually do it?!"

"They were an important test." Itachi said his eyes fluttering shut. Sasuke would never understand his reason.

"So you-…._Kagome _didn't deserve any of that! _No one_ did!" Sasuke growled picking himself up off the floor running at Itachi with the intent to teach his brother a lesson. Before Sasuke knew it he was leaning over Itachi's closed fist that had punched him in the chest, Sasuke crumpled to the wooden floor landing in front of the two figures that had created him. He stared at the dead bodies in front of him. That's right-they weren't his parents' anymore-just lifeless corpses. Tears leaked from his eyes as he sprung backwards and ran jumping over Kagome's body as he yelled, "Don't kill me!"

"Hn. As if. You're not even worth killing foolish otouto, hiding behind a girl. How pathetic. You're a coward," Itachi easily jumped in front of Sasuke who had run out into the streets crying. "If you want to kill me…..then hate, spite, and survive pathetically……. run,……run........ and cling desperately to life."

The saying was forever lodged deep within Sasuke's mind as he stood their panting, paralyzed with fear. He couldn't take it anymore, Sasuke collapsed forwards. Itachi shot a glare at the disgusting sight of his weak otouto and spun around calmly walking away from the gory fate that had befallen on the Uchiha clan. He was vaguely interested how Sasuke was going to turn out as well as that Kagome girl. He had let them both survive the Uchiha clan's massacring for what sick reason? For his twisted pleasure, he knew that Sasuke would seek him out for revenge. No one would soon forget what occurred on this chilling night under the full moon.

* * *

_Beep. Beep. Beep_.

'What is that noise?' Sasuke asked himself staring into the bright light hospital light as he lay in a hospital bed. He refused to cry, his brother's words burned deep into his brain. He closed his eyes pretending to be asleep when he heard the door rattle open.

"Come over here at once Takahito, we came here to visit Uchiha, Sasuke. He survived the Uchiha massacre and we're here to drop these flowers off as a gift from our family and then we are going to leave." A high pitched voice, belonging to a woman whispered harshly to another person who had also entered the room.

"But Kaa-san this girl is _really _kawaii!" Takahito's voice whined to his mother. "Can we give a flower to her?"

"Fine, hurry up and chose one flower from the bunch to give to her," The woman's annoyed voice answered "okay come on let's leave now so others can drop their gifts off." The boy sighed, the door rattled open there were some footsteps and then the door rattled closed.

As soon as they had left Sasuke turned his head opened his eyes that widened. He ignored the gifts that overflowed over the wooden surface of the nightstand beside him and covered the entire bottom part of his bed. Flowers, cards, boxes of chocolates, bags of sweets, gift baskets, stuffed animals…. and even women's underwear? Littered on the floor and surrounded the hospital bed Sasuke was occupying.

Sasuke brought up one of his hands and rubbed his eyes then opened them again. Could it be? Was it-? It really was Kagome-she was alive! He was about to rush over there and throw himself into her arms but he stopped himself. Just as he was half way out of his bed, his legs dangling over the edge of the bed. His eyes became glued to the greenish bruise that went all the way around her pale neck….it was a reminder that it was his fault that she was here. He crumpled the bed sheet up in a small clenched fist that was shaking. He couldn't even protect his friend from his Nii-san! The image of Kagome's small body being flung against the wall made Sasuke's entire body shake with furry. It had been his fault, his Nii-san was right he was a coward!

He lay back in his hospital bed fighting off the tears. Remembering all the harsh things his older brother had said to him. '_Run,……run........ and cling desperately to life_.' Sasuke shut his eyes tightly '_Foolish otouto, if you want to kill me…..then hate, spite, and survive pathetically…._' He let the anger flow through his body directed towards the figure he had once strived to be like, Itachi. Swallowing the lump in his throat he looked at Kagome's peaceful sleeping form. 'I'm going to get stronger. I'll prove myself. I'll _kill_ you…Itachi.' Was the last thing Sasuke thought before falling into a nightmare that constantly repeated the horrible night over and over again until Sasuke could recall the moment everything was about to happen. He could even recite the exact words spoken from Itachi's lips. Sasuke was letting go of all the emotions he once had, expect his newfound hatred towards his Uchiha, Itachi.

* * *

The figure was close now, it could sense it. Two and a half months already went by from the time she had felt the familiar reiki. The journey here was tiresome, painful, and hard to get to Konohagakure and there it finally was, in all its glory. Relying on the use of a giant longbow to walk and for protection the hunched figure continued slowly on its way the pain continuing to be a nuisance. It was at least another two hours of nonstop traveling for the figure to get to the gates of Konoha waving around a Konoha hitai-ite the cloaked figure pointed towards one of the guards. "Ye there open this gate!"

"Gomen [sorry] but we were strictly instructed not to let in any outsiders in Konoha because of what happened two nights ago."

"Here I have a note, written by the Yondaime-sama himself. I wish to speak with him."

"T-the Yon-da-daime-sama?" One of the guards stuttered looking down at the haggard appearance of the traveler who was demanding entrance to distraught village which had just lost one of their strongest clans.

"Ay, are ye hard of hearing?"

"N-no." The same guard once again stuttered trying to make out any features of the mysterious visitor.

"Then what is the matter?"

"It's just that Konoha isn't ruled over by the Yondaime Hokage anymore."

"Then take this letter to whomever is ruling over ye village boy."

"Hold it," The older more experienced other guard ordered the other shinobi who was about to jump down to retrieve the scroll. Even if it was broad day light, this person could still be potentially dangerous. "Onegai [please] remove the hood of your cloak so we can see what you look like. This is just standard procedure."

"If that is what ye want." The figure pushed the bow deep into the ground so it could lean against it. Bringing up a single wrinkled hand, the person pulled down the hood of the cloak and closed its eye.

"Al-alright, you can put the hood of your cloak back on, Ari-gato [thanks] okay you down there and get that letter and bring it directly to the Hokage-sama." The older guard said still shocked from what he had seen beneath the hood of the cloak in all his years watching over the gate he had never seen anything like that.

"Right away, I will deliver this to the Sandaime Hokage."

* * *

There was so much to worry about right now, the Hokage's desk crowded with papers and folders everywhere. He was still filling out papers that pertained to the youkai incident that attack two children and destroyed parts of the training area. He was also busy taking in panicked requests of other small villages that were worried that youkais were going to destroy their village. He had reports back from missions piled on the floor. Then the death of the Uchiha clan who were slain by Uchiha, Itachi was just the icing on the cake. He sighed and took out his trusty pipe to hopefully help him relax and get through the rest of this day. When one of the watch guards popped in waving a scroll around he knew his day wasn't going to go the way he had hoped it would.

The Sandaime sat behind his desk letting a puff of smoke billow out from between his thin lips thoughtfully bringing the pipe back to his mouth as the cloaked figure that had been brought to his office requesting to see the Yondaime, was seated. He nodded dismissing the guard who had carried the person all the way to the Hokage tower, on account that the person walked to slowly. During that time the Sandaime's eyes read through the contents of the scroll. It brought tears to his eyes, this was indeed the Yondaime's neat writing, and there was no doubt in his mind what so ever. He remembered standing over his protégés shoulder as he allowed the eager young man to write his first ever pardon this person as the new Hokage.

"Have ye finished reading the scroll?" The familiar old haggard voice assaulted his ears.

"Hai, I have onegai remove your cloak and get comforta-" Hiruzen Sarutobi was ashamed of himself, his pipe clanked to his table when his mouth had opened from shock. The person had changed from when he saw her many years ago. Even though she was still wearing the same exact thing, baggy white top and red pants he thought she had died…even though she had started showing signs of what was actually happening from the last time he had laid eyes upon her.

"So what befell on Konoha a mere two nights ago?" Half of the woman's face was young and average looking it belonged to a brown eyed lady in their mid twenties. The hair on that side of the body was also healthy and black while the other half of her head was covered in gray straw like hair. The face also belonged to an elderly woman with an eye patch in their late fifties or early sixties.

"An entire clan was wiped out in the middle of the night, by one of its own members. For reasons unknown he left two survivors before becoming a missing shinobi," The Sandaime answered picking up his pipe and cleaning up the mess off the papers, it had made, when it was dropped. Refilling the pipe with tobacco he stuck a long match and lit the tobacco on fire. "So Priestess Kaede-san, what brings you back to Konoha?"

Hiruzen found the need to ask, even though he already knew the answer. The only he had ever seen Kaede was when she came to the village in search of someone who had energy called 'reiki'. She followed her instincts and it brought her to the house in which a regular village girl resided in with her parents and younger cousin. He had been a lot younger then and didn't quite understand the whole concept of there being other forms of energy then chakra. Kaede had told him that this girl seemed promising and she would train her but in order to do so she needed to take this girl to live up in the mountains where Kaede lived. The girl's family was thrilled at the idea and eagerly let Kaede take their daughter. Kaede gave her word at the end of each month the girl would return home to spend time back in the village before journeying back into the mountains.

Except three weeks went by before he saw Kaede again, she returned the girl to her family. 'I have tried everything that I possibly could, but it's no use her powers are too weak and are in such a small quantity, it's impossible for ye child to tap into them. I cannot train her. Such is the case with most children I have found.' That's what Kaede told the family with a solemn look on her tired face. Then she returned to the Hokage tower saying that the next time they saw her was if she ever located another child with such powers residing in their village. Then she asked them if they would allow her back into the village if she ever did sense another child. The Yondaime was only too happy to write Kaede a note while Sarutobi stood over his shoulder. A strange fate had befallen on the family with the girl she had tried to train, out of the blue one night they all disappeared. The file sat in cabinet stored away under the unsolved crime category.

After that incident Hiruzen had done everything in his power to learn as much about Miko's [priestess] as he could. He found the legend of the Shikon no Tama to be particular interesting, but he found it in an old children's fairy tale book. There wasn't much about Miko's in the legend of the Shikon no Tama except there used to be one residing in every village to protect from demons that tried to attack the village. They were also said to have incredible healing powers and shot spiritual arrows used to kill the demons. There were a plethora of other strange characters in the legend also, like a talking toad that wielded a two headed staff.

"I have come to your village like many years ago in search of someone who possesses the ability to use Miko reiki Sarutobi-sama," Kaede paused slightly shifting in the seat from the pain within her body. "However I am looking for someone _particular_ in mind."

"Huh?" Was the only response, "Who is the person you are looking for Kaede-san?"

"Her name is Higurashi, Kagome do ye know where I can find this child?"

"Higurashi, Kagome.......I've seen that name a couple of times, hold on for a moment," The Sandaime mumbled at he held onto his pipe with his teeth while he dug through the piles of reports quickly flicking through them. "Aha, here it is. Investigative report by Kotetsu and Izumo, responding to a bright light and disturbance……..Niwatori monster…..two girls……. Higurashi, Kagome and Sakimitama- wait this is this isn't the folder I was looking for."

Kaede watched with her one eye as the village leader riffled though folders on his desk muttering to himself that he 'had just been reading it' and 'where did it go?' She closed her eye waiting for him to find what he was looking for. It was the only polite thing to do.

"Here we go," He read from a folder labeled Uchiha clan it had a giant red stamp stating it was TOP SECRECT. "Two survivors, mmhmfmmgmmt and Higurashi Kagome. She is still recovering in the hospital, how about I give you a hotel room free of charge for tonight I'm sure you are tired from your journey and the you can come by tomorrow morning at ten o'clock and I'll escort you to the hospital myself." So I can get away from all this paper work… he added in his head.

"Ay that sounds fine, arigato."

"Do you still reside up in the mountains?"

"Iie. I decided to move, it was getting to be too hard on these old bones. It's still in a secluded area though, in a much better location, it's rather peaceful and quiet."

"I see. Let me write you a note for you to give to the hotel desk, and then I'll have a shinobi escort you to the hotel."

"GAI REPORTING BACK FROM YET ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL AND YOUTHFUL MISSION, Hokage-sama~"

"…Ah, Gai-san I have a task for you I need you to carry this lady and her bags to the hotel, once you are done you are dismissed and you can go home. Then tomorrow morning you are to bring her here to the tower at ten o'clock. Then you are free to do as you wish for the rest of the day."

"ALRIGHT, Hokage-sama I won't let you down!" Gai replied giving a wink as he smiled giving the thumbs up.

* * *

Back at the hospital Kagome woke up to the sound of someone thrashing around. She sat up and touched the back of her head lightly. Man it had felt as if she had been thrown against a wall……three times. She was glad to have been awoken, she was having one of the strangest nightmares about Naraku he was choking her with a tentacle and yelling at her to give him something…..there was a bright blinding light……...then darkness….then an grayish black glow with talking- but she couldn't make out what was being said…....eyes that looked like what Itachi had in his eyes…….then it went back to Naraku again, she knew it was him, except he was in the body of that boy with the two dog ears on his head…….. then there was a bloody head rolling on the ground……. and Naraku breaking this girl who turned into clay, setting free white glowing orbs that floated out of the clay body……...there was also this pale white girl…......and it ended off with her feeling these pin pricks her entire body. It had a lot of really weird mini nightmares, she was sure glad it was over.

"IIE! Nii-san….mmhy…..Kaa-san! Chichi-ue! Iie…….bon't kill mrr…" Came the tormented cries from the other bed, the boy was thrashing around violently in the bed as the sun orange rays shone on him through the open window, showing that it had just started to set.

"Sasuke?" Kagome whispered accidently knocking over a cup that had a bouquet filled with a random selection of flowers. They fell to the ground soundlessly while the cup rolled around on the wooden surface spilling out some water onto the floor. She ignored these things as she dragged her bare feet on the floor making her way over to her friend. "Sasuke wake up, you're having a bad dream."

"K..gome….-" Sasuke muttered with his eyes shut tight, he was still asleep. "-bibn't….des..errbe …. any...of that. Iie Nii-san."

Her feet where getting cold from standing there on the tiled floor, so she crawled into the hospital bed with Sasuke and grabbed him by the shoulders and started shaking him as she pronounced every syllable. "Sa-su-ke wake up this ins-tance you are hav-ing a night-mare. If you don't wake up right now, I'm go-ing to cut your hair in-to a bo-wl cut." She grinned when his eyes flew open. She stopped shaking his body and wrapped her arms around his neck pulling Sasuke into a hug. Not taking any notice that Sasuke's wasn't hugging back, since his arms hung limp at his sides.

"Kagome…" Sasuke whispered very quietly, as her warm body held his close to her. He half heartedly pushed her away he really wanted to stay in the embrace, but it was his fault that she was hurt in the first place. He didn't deserve her as a friend if he couldn't protect her. That's another reason why he had to get stronger, he was going to study harder and work harder than ever before. No one was going to beat him, no one.

Maybe she had been squeezing him too tightly? She yawned laying down beside Sasuke looking him straight in the eyes. "If you want to…….you know- I want you to know it is okay. I'll be here for you no matter what, I _promise_," She said referring to shedding a couple of tears, because of what had occurred. "Did I make you worry Sasuke? If I did gomen [sorry]…"

He was proud of himself when he managed to suppress and fight back the light blush that threatened to color his cheeks. Her face was so closed to his; he could feel the warmth of her breath. He found himself asking, how had he not noticed how pretty Kagome was? She looked so kawaii [cute] when her eyes started to flutter close, falling asleep a small chunk of hair falling into her face as her breathing evened out. With a shaky hand he carefully reached out to brush it back, but retracted his hand immediately as if he had been burned. He clenched his hand into a fist. What was he doing? He looked at her neck, shocked to see that it barely looked bruised now but it was still a fading reminder of what happened.

"I'm the one that should be…apologizing to you Kagome... I didn't do anything to help you….I just….just ran….ran away." Sasuke whispered so quietly closing his eyes so tightly so that he wasn't able to shed any of the tears that he could feel filling up his eyes. Just as he was about to fall asleep he buried his face into her long hair and his arms reached out to wrap themselves around Kagome's warm body pulling her towards his cold shivering one.

* * *

Now that the mystery person has been revealed what do you think will happen?

Best review for the last chapter: ShiTuskisama


	6. Story Time

Pages: 12

Words: 5,345

Chapter Six- Story Time

* * *

Sango felt triumphant, she had been sent home by a nurse who had seen her by Kagome's bedside all day as soon as school was over. Sango was doing her homework as she watched over the sleeping girl and she stayed right through dinner, regrettably leaving Kagome's side when the hospital visiting hours were up. Even then she did try to stay later than that, but was always ushered out. Anyways Sango waited near by the hospital entrance until the nurse's shift was over, then she went back in and now she was on her way back to Kagome's shared hospital room. 'I just want to make sure Kagome is alright before I go back home…'

"I'm back." Sango announced quietly sliding the rattling door open sitting down in her usual chair that she had placed right beside Kagome's bed. Her eyes grew big once she saw that the young girl's bed was empty and the flowers on the table had been knocked over-onto the floor. Had there been a struggle? Where was she? Was this some kind of joke? It was starting to get dark out, what if someone had kidnapped her?

"Mpfh."

She walked over to the other bed, where the noise had come from and sighed. There was Kagome sleeping peacefully in the arms of a young boy. Everything was alrig- WHAT?! Sango peered into the hospital bed again; it had not made any difference at all. Tip toeing through the masses of gifts left for the boy she picked up the clipboard from the end of his bed. Uchiha, Sasuke: chest injury consistent with a violent punch to the chest two fractured ribs are the result, mental stability: currently unknown. So this was the survivor of the Uchiha clan that she had been hearing rumors floating about at the academy about this boy. He was young but there was no doubt in her mind that he could become very dangerous, filled with hate and revenge for the person who had done this to his family.

It was all too familiar to Sango. She had experienced the same thing, she was just lucky that she had met Kagome and Miroku. Otherwise who knows what she might have done with her life? It was no way life to live that way, as dumb as that saying might sound; it was true at least to her. Placing the clipboard back in a slight daze she wandered out of the hospital, reassured that Kagome was alright. The boy's embrace around Kagome was protective and of course Kagome was too young and naïve, it was actually…quite- kawaii she let out a small giggle. Then looked horrified when she realized what she had done, her hand flew over to cover her mouth. She had just giggled. Her, she couldn't giggle! Girl's belonging to the 'Neji-kun' fan club giggled!

Completely distraught Sango failed to notice a pair of pupil-less snow white eyes that were watching her from a distance following her every move. She stopped walking because she had sensed something and looked in the direction where someone had been standing a couple seconds ago. With her eyes squinted at the spot Sango whirled around trying to figure out what was giving her the feeling that she was being watched and where it had gone. If anyone tried to attack her the only one who would come out wounded would be the assailant.

Neji quickly jumped to another branch thinking 'that was close'. He jumped up to the branch above him and almost, key word almost lost his balance as he stood on the branch when he encountered a two tailed neko that starred at him with bright red eyes. The neko gave him a look that sent a tingle down his spine, he had a feeling that this strange neko, knew what he was up to. And at the moment he was having an all out staring contest with the neko, neither of them refused to blink; his eyes had started to water when a speckle of dirt flew into his open eyes. It cost him the staring causing the match, because he had shut his eyes to try and get the annoying speck out.

"Mew?" Kirara meowed victoriously standing up on the branch, weaving her body through, the strange boy who had been following her master, legs. She then started to rub her small furry head against his uncovered toes purring.

"_Yamate_. [Stop.]" Neji hissed, he didn't want to move and alert Sango of his presence. She was cautiously moving closer to the tree at a steady pace to investigate the noises. That meant he couldn't get away from the strange neko who was going to make him fall out of the tree if it continued making figure eights around his legs. Sango was about twenty steps away from the tree and now at the base of his hiding spot, while the neko's purrs got louder and louder. He shut his eyes he was going to get found out!

"Mew." Kirara jumped out of the tree just in the nick of time to save the boy from being discovered. She rubbed her body against Sango's face walking from shoulder to shoulder while looking straight into the boy's snow white ones clearly saying 'you owe me one.' She had bought him enough time to get away from her master. Suddenly Kirara found herself dangling in front of Sango's scrunched up face.

"Eewhh, Kirara where have you been? You stink. You need a bath."

"….Mew…" Oh yes the boy definitely owed her big time for this Kirara thought her big ears drooping.

* * *

"Freedom!" Kagome yelled happily once outside of the hospital, a nurse had released her after checking all over her body, wanting to make sure she was in good condition before letting Kagome go. Meaning she was released because the nurse, on duty, didn't want her disturbing Sasuke anymore than she already had, that was. She didn't understand what she had done wrong. All she did was place a bowl on Sasuke's head so when he woke up he would show some sort of emotion maybe even laugh at her antics. She looked to the many windows of the hospital, she felt bad for leaving Sasuke, but she just didn't like hospitals. But she had told him that she would visit him later (even though he was asleep at the time) the nurse just wanted her out of there!

"KAGOME!" A familiar voice yelled launching itself onto the girl sending her toppling to the ground. Instead of Naruto she saw that small fox boy again. He had done the same thing to her… "KAAAGOOME? Caaaaann youuu hear me?!"

"Un Naruto you don't have to yell in my ear!" Kagome replied rubbing her abused ear. "Aren't you supposed to be in class now?"

"Eheh… Etto [Well] I got a day off from the academy! So I decided I would use it and come visit you!" Naruto answered rubbing the back of his head as he got off the ground.

"Honto ni? [Really?]" Kagome asked suspiciously dusting the dirt off her clothes.

"Err … Hai?"

"You don't sound very convincing Naruto."

"It doesn't matter! Let's go swimming or something. Come on, we haven't played together in daaaaayssssss lets goooo- somewhere in this direction." Naruto said quickly pushing Kagome in the opposite direction of the people that he heard approaching.

'I swear I just saw Naruto-kun.' Sarutobi thought rubbing his eyes which were probably tired from all the paper work he had been doing the past three weeks. He was glad he was taking a break, Kaede walked agonizingly slow. The hospital wasn't that far away from the Hokage tower, a ten minute walk away but it took Kaede, who had her cloak on once more, a painful hour and forty eight minutes to get this far which was just about outside the hospital doors. He had to wonder how long had it taken for her to get here from her home.

"What can I- Oh! Ohayo [Morning] Hokage-sama what brings you here today?" The receptionist asked looking up from her station at the front desk.

"I am here to see Higurashi, Kagome can you tell me what room she's in?"

"One moment let me check my records, alright everything seems to be in order, I can take you there myself!"

"Maybe you should sit in a wheelchair." Sarutobi suggested rolling one over to Kaede who grunted sitting in the strange device before being wheeled into an elevator.

"Ohayo Rizu where are you taking the Sandaime?" The nurse who had finally gotten a girl that had been sharing the room with Uchiha, Sasuke to stop annoying her patient by kicking her out. She was on her way to give the 'been released' papers to Rizu who works the front desk. To her surprise, she found Rizu taking the same elevator she was in, with the Hokage and his friend.

"Ohayo Yurimi I'm bringing him to go see Higurashi, Kagome in room 203."

"Well you won't find her there. She was already healed up, so I released her about ten minutes ago. I was on my way to give you her folder just now." Yurimi said passing the folder to Rizu.

"Hokage-Sama I was sent to find you, there is urgent paper work on your desk that needs your signature." A shinobi said once the hospital evaluator doors opened back on the main floor.

"Ugh…I mean- alright but onegai bring Kaede-san back to my office while I tend to the paper work."

* * *

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything Sandaime-sama," The shinobi who watched over a sector of the village said poking his head into the Hokage's office, dripping wet. "But I found these gaki's causing trouble for the villagers."

"Oi, I told you! It's none of this is my fault. Kagome was the one who pushed me into the pond!" Naruto's yells could be heard outside the door.

"Hey! You tried to push me in, in the first place and you _fell_ in because I moved out of the way." A girl's voice this time could be heard.

"Well if you didn't move out of the way I wouldn't have fallen in! I could have hit my head or drowned!"

"But you didn't and you ended up pulling me into the pond with all my clothes on-"

"HEY WILL YOU TWO GAKI'S _BE QUITE_! THERE ARE PEOPLE WORKING ACTUALLY _WORKING_ IN THIS BUILDING." The voice of the shinobi yelled outside.

"Mou, I think someone's grumpy." The girl's voice stated in a condescending tone directed at the angry shinobi.

"Un, you don't have to yell at us." Naruto added in.

"Nobou-san onegai come in, what seems to be the problem?" The Sandaime asked not looking up from the urgent paper work that needed his signature.

"Sandaime-sama, I don't mean to be any trouble but these two gaki's where disturbing the fishermen by splashing around in the pond." Nobou said holding the two kids up by the scruff of their wet clothing, Naruto pouted looking away in the other direction with his arms crossed while the girl just hung there looking around the office curiously.

"Pehfffttt, you were the one splashing around." Naruto muttered looking at Nobou and sticking his tongue out.

"Why I otta-" Nobou stopped short of what he was going to say remembering just whose presence he was in "-that was because _Naruto-kun_ I was trying to catch both of you because you tried to run away."

"Duh, ever heard of stranger danger? How did we know you weren't a pedophile?" Kagome defended the both of them as she brushed her wet bangs out of her eyes.

"Ped-PEDOPHILE? Where did a gaki like you learn such a word? What are you like five years old?"

"Iie, I'm seven almost eight now!" She said proudly pointing towards herself with a grin. She had gotten wonderful gifts from her friends.

"Hey Kagome he's not denying it." Naruto whispered pointing out the fact to Kagome as he tried to learn over to get close to her as much as he could, while being held up by his collar.

"I AM _NOT_ A PED-"

"I'VE HEARD ENOUGH!" Sarutobi roared successfully getting everyone's attention. "Alright thank you Nobou-san you are dismissed onegai go back to patrolling your sector. I'll deal with the situation how I deem fit."

"Hai Sandaime-sama I understand." With that said Nobou left the Hokage's office holding the door open for a struggling shinobi who had to carry a strange cloaked figure up all the stairs.

"Hokage-sama......here is the.....woman you had.....me.....bring back to.....your....office," The shinobi said as he crawled into the room placing the woman on the ground laying his head on the ground, with his body sprawled out in an interesting position as he caught his breath. "Is that.... everything?"

"Hai, Susumu-san arigato, you can go."

"...Ka-go-me?" Kaede asked slowly moving towards the young girl, closing her eye as she approached the two young children. 'This young boy- he has spirit of Shippo laying sealed inside of his body she could sense it even with the small amount of reiki she had left....this is-amazing, the seal he has allows him to access the powers but keeps the dangerous youkai behind bars.'

"Un! That's me, but who are you?" Kagome asked turning around to face the new comer.

"Don't ye remember me? My name is Priestess Kaede you came to my village long ago from a distant place." Kaede said while getting closer to the young child that resembled the Kagome she knew way back when, but this small child had blue eyes.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked his friend while watching as the scene unfolded.

"Priestess Kaede?" Kagome chewed on her lip thinking.

"Perhaps if you remove your cloak…" Sarutobi suggested bringing Naruto over to him, kneeling down close to the boy's he whispered in his ear, "I see you've made a friend, I'm glad for you. Now I just want you to keep any comments to yourself, don't make any remarks on this woman's appearance alright?"

"Wakatta [Got it] but why?..........OI…….HEY OBAA-CHAN [GRANDMOTHER] WHAT'S WITH YOUR FACE? YOU HAVE TWO OF THEM! ONE'S OLD AND WRINKLY WHILE THE OTHER IS NOT. WHY DO YOU HAVE AN EYEPATCH? ARE YOU A PIRATE?!"

'That _Nar-u-to._' Sarutobi thought stressing the syllables in his head as he ran his hand down his face.

"My, ye sure are curious." Kaede said placing her hand on top of Naruto's head and giving it a small pat.

Blue eyes slowly widened she recognized the face of the elderly half of the woman. It was when she had been kidnapped by this youkai lady who wanted something from her. She was brought to this old lady's hut, and had salt thrown at her. Kagome then recalled going to visit this 'Obaa-chan' many times with Sango, Kirara, Miroku, the small fox boy and the dog eared boy who often called the old lady a 'hag' earning himself a whack. "Kaede!"

"Ye remember me?"

"Un! Sango nee-san [older sister], Kirara and Miroku nii-san [older brother] are here too they'd probably like it if you came to visit!"

"Perhaps it's better if they come to Kaede-san," The Sandaime said signing his signature at the bottom of some more papers after reading through them. He experienced firsthand how agonizingly slow she walked, he couldn't imagine her going half way across town anytime soon. "I can have a shinobi bring them here, if you like."

"Ay I could like that very much. They are here? Are they the same age as you?" Don't think that Keade hadn't noticed the change in Kagome she still had her reiki. It was a hundred percent permanent whatever had happened seemed to have also destroyed some of her memories in the process. The personality luckily had stayed completely intact. It was ironic that Kagome had found a friend in the boy who held Shippo within his body.

"Iie. Sango is nine now and Miroku is ten, Obaa-chan."

"Oi, Obaa-chan why are you here?" Naruto asked rather rudely wanting to spend the rest of the day playing games with Kagome, not sitting here in the office that soon would belong to him when he became the next Hokage.

"Ye will find out in due time child, ye must be patient." Kaede said wisely sitting down in a chair glad to be off her tired feet. Closing her eye she breathed deeply she could sense a youkai very close by, but this one was harbored no evilness inside of it.

"You better have a good reason for pulling me out of class! I'm missing an important lesson, this better be quick!" Sango's irked voice could be heard coming up the staircase.

"I've been taken away from all the kawaii girls…."

"The Hokage-sama requested that you come immediately remember to be respectful." Susumu said while knocking on the door.

"Ah, Susumu-san I see you've managed to find Sango-chan and Miroku-chan. Arigato that is all." Sarutobi thanked the shinobi who brought the children to his office before bowing and then leaving them to be all together.

"Look guys its Obaa-chan Kaede!" Kagome said pointing to Kaede who had had closed her eye from the sudden pain that constantly made its way through her entire body. It was clear to Kaede that Kagome no longer remembered how to use her reiki and that she would have to train her. "She looks different from what we might remember but it is really her!"

The look of recognition crossed both their faces as they remembered who this lady was. Their memories of this lady were very similar to Kagome's. Though the person they believed to be their 'Obaa-chan' didn't look the same, it was still her. Kirara who had spotted Naruto jumped down from Sango's shoulder's to try and entertain the bored looking boy.

"Do ye children remember who I am?" Kaede asked not minding that she was being referred to as 'grandmother.'

"Of course Obaa-chan we'd never forget you," Miroku answered for Sango as well who nodded enthusiastically. Then rather bluntly Miroku said, "We didn't know you were still alive-"

"Miroku!" Sango hissed appalled at how blunt Miroku's had said it despite it being truth…. "Ano, Obaa-chan- what Miroku really wanted to say….ano, what he meant to say was…..That we haven't seen you in awhile….. and what brings you here?"

"…I came here because I am going to train Kagome."

"You are?!" Kagome, Naruto, Sango and Miroku all asked at the same time looking at each other when after they did.

"Ay, there isn't much time left for me," Kaede said with her eye closed, "Perhaps I should tell ye all the tale of how I came to look like this, I'm sure Sarutobi-sama ye are surely interested in how I came to be here also."

"You are correct Kaede-san with your assumption." Hiruzen said with a small chuckle placing his paper work aside to give his undivided attention to the rather mysterious old lady.

"Oi, Obaa-chan can I listen to your story too?" Naruto asked with Kirara on his head as he moved to sit closer to her.

"Ay child ye may." Kaede decided that she was going to leave some of the names out of her tale, the memories that came with the name could prove to be too much for them.

'I suppose I won't be catching the end of the lesson the sensei [teacher] was teaching today....I'll just get the notes from someone tomorrow.' Sango thought as she got comfortable having a feeling that this was going to be a long story.

"I was in my hut when it happened. A youkai with red eyes, silver hair, red kimono and two triangular ears on top of his head was wreaking havoc on the whole entire village. I tried to use my bow and arrow to stop the foul beast but he was too fast as well as too strong and shoved me into this giant brown bag he was carrying. Many other youkai were in this bag, I could not see them all because it was very dark inside. The youkai who had captured me told the other ones inside not to kill me and if they did he would make sure they were all torn limb from limb."

'He sounds like someone familiar.' Kagome, Sango and Miroku all thought as they continued to listen to what Kaede had to say.

"He went around catching more youkai and shoving them into the bag most of them were quite powerful but the youkai did not fight fair. Eventually I figured out who the monster was it was Naraku, everything went dark and when I awoke I was strapped to a table with many needles and tubes connecting to my body as well as wires, blood was being pumped out of my body. Naraku was using me as some sort of test subject. He said something about creating another _Kikyo_ by using my DNA. Once he was done draining out almost all my reiki and my blood he took a bag filled with youkai blood and injected it straight into my body. The pain was too unbearable as my left over blood tried to purify the invading youkai blood. I was no longer any use to him, he had some of his followers dump he out in the middle of nowhere thinking that I would eventually die there."

"Did you?!" Naruto suddenly asked loudly, even though the answer was sitting right in front of him _living_ proof that she hadn't.

"Obviously not Naruto-kun." Hiruzen answered the question rubbing his temples, 'this boy just doesn't have any common sense does he?'

"I was found by someone passing through the forest and taken back to their village to recover, but once signs of what Naraku had done to me started to show and my cries of pain were heard. The villagers wanted nothing to do with me and took me into the mountains, gave me a few things to help me and left me there. I managed to survive, eating nearby plants knowing which ones were poisonous from the ones that weren't. Soon I built myself a place to live and started making my own paper so that I could write on it. I used only the things I could find in the forest to help me survive for the most part. When I did venture to a village, close by, to get certain materials I made sure never to show my face to them. It was the result of Naraku injected me with all that youkai blood because of it....my body is slowly purifying itself. I have found a way to cope with all the pain, this younger face you see; it's the half of my body that the youkai blood has finished destroying it is extremely painful to move that side of my body. However I am alive today, looking the same as I always have on one side because of the fact that youkai age much slower than ningens..."

"I don't understand....Obaa-chan, why do you want to train me?" Kagome asked with her eyes looking at the floor, she felt bad for what Kaede had to go through, no one should ever have to go through that! Why did such evil people like Naraku exist in the world?

"Kagome that is so I can teach ye can use your reiki to its fullest potential." Kaede replied glad to finally get her story off of her chest to people who would understand.

"My….rai-key?"

"It's pronounced rei-ki." Miroku said coaching Kagome on how to properly pronounce the word.

"Kaede-san, when and where will your training of Kagome-chan take place?" Hiruzen found the need to ask, even though, once again knowing the answer.

"Right away, ye are going to have to pull her out of the academy for some time and Kagome and I must have to travel back to where I live."

"Nani? [What?] You're taking Kagome away from us?" Sango looked at Kaede for an answer to her question.

"Ay Sango, I mus-"

"IIE! You can't take Kagome away! _I_ won't let you!" Naruto burst out jumping up and pointing his finger at the old woman who was trying to take his only friend away. He knew it was too good to be true to have a friend like Kagome. Kami [God] must have figured out that he (Naruto) had a friend and for some reason decided that he didn't deserve her. Naruto had tears starting to gather in his blue eyes.

"Naruto-chan!" Hiruzen called the boy's name out rather harshly to get his attention. "I think you should let Kaede-san speak, please sit back down. Gomen onegai, continue."

"It is alright, as I was saying. Kagome must come live with me so I can train her and so she can become stronger and know how to utilize her powers. Sango, if you allow us to borrow Kirara, after one month Kagome can visit ye whenever she likes."

"Obaa-chan doesn't Kagome get a say in this?" Miroku asked resonating with wisdom beyond his years.

"UN! Kagome tell her how you really feel!" Naruto said desperately looking at Kagome who had her bangs covering her eyes she hadn't spoken a word once she found out she had to leave everybody behind.

"Only IF Kagome wants to go Oba-chan, Will I ask Kirara if she willing to go with you guys." Sango replied crossing her arms over her chest.

"Ay.....that she does.....Kagome what are ye thoughts?" Kaede asked her brown eye focusing on her.

"So after one month you promise I can visit whenever I like?" Kagome's quite voice cut though the silence, her head was still turned downwards refusing to look anybody in the eyes....or in Kaede's sense eye.

"Ay Kagome I promise."

"W-wait what are you saying Kagome?! You can't possibly want to go with her!" Naruto said his voice cracking as he jumped up again. He was thinking that maybe Kagome didn't want to be his friend anymore so she was going to leave! That was it! "WHY DON'T YOU SAY IT- YOU DON'T WANT TO BE MY FRIEND ANYMORE AND _THAT'S_ WHY YOU WANT TO LEAVE?!"

Naruto took off running heading towards the doors as tears started to fall from his eyes, he couldn't stop them from falling. He soon found himself tumbling on the ground, while Kagome's arms were wrapped around his mid chest. She had tackled him to the ground and buried her face into his chest. "Baka! How many times have I told you that 'I'm going to be your friend no matter what' until you realize it!"

"Then why do you want to leave?" Naruto whined rubbing his face with his hands as he wiped the constant flow tears away.

"Because it's my dream....I want to get stronger....I want to protect the things I love most…I want to get rid of Naraku……If I have this reiki inside of me I don't want it to go to waste, I want to be able to use it! I want to be able to fight so I can protect myself and defend those I love!" Kagome yelled before quieting down and saying. "If I have to live far away with Obaa-chan in order to do so…..then I will go! I care about everyone and don't want to see them hurt!"

Kaede eye widened but it went back to normal and the old woman couldn't help but smile, she never knew that a girl at Kagome's age could have such strong aspirations already.

"I don't really wanna leave…..but I'm going to so I can get stronger and I was promised that I can visit anytime I want to and if you get lonely while I'm gone you can always talk to Sango and Miroku, there here for you too! They give really good advice, most of the time." Kagome continued hugged Naruto tighter before letting him go, he had stopped crying and was looking at her with big watery eyes.

"Sugoi [Cool] I didn't know that this was your dream gomen [sorry] Kagome. I won't get in the way of your dream- that means you won't get in the way of me becoming the next Hokage either wakatta? [got it?]" Naruto said as he got off the floor, helping Kagome up as he did. He felt kind of silly acting the way he did now.

"Un!" Kagome said agreeing with a smile.

"Obaa-chan when- when will Kagome be leaving?" Sango asked turning back to face Kaede. She didn't want Kagome to leave either, but since Kagome wanted to go she wasn't going to stop her.

"If ye allow us to borrow Kirara, she can stay for two more nights, we will leave very early in the morning on the third day so few people will see Kirara's true form, they might panic." Kaede told Sango who nodded showing that she understood.

"So how about it Kirara are you willing to take them where ever they need to go?"

"Mew." Kirara nodded she would bring Kaede and Kagome where ever they needed. She could tell that her master was sad so she rubbed her body against her master's legs knowing it would make her give at least a small smile.

"Make sure you protect them too okay Kirara?" Sango whispered while giving the neko a smile as she scooped up her faithful companion in her arms who nodded at the request.

"I'll write the three of you notes that will pardon you from class for the next two days and Kagome I'll make sure to inform your sensei that you will no longer be in his class." The Sandaime informed the four children.

"Hokage-sama you don't have to write Sango nee-san a note she needs to go to the academy, she's on a very important mission. You can't let your rival get ahead of you isn't that right?" Kagome said knowing that Sango didn't want to fall behind, but the girl didn't want to say it aloud in case she took it the wrong way.

"Un, I agree with Kagome Hokage-sama, if Sango doesn't go to the academy for two days who knows what they'll teach. She'll surely fall behind and her rival will get the better of her, her marks will plummet!" Miroku said catching on to what Kagome was doing, she was very bright for her age. His attention then turned to Sango who had started sweat. She needed one final push before she cracked. "He's probably getting ahead of her right now, who knows what important lessons Sango missed today?"

"I'M NOT LETTING THAT _PRETTY BOY PANSY_ GET THE BETTER OF ME! THERE'S STILL TIME TO GET BACK TO THE ACADEMY!" Sango yelled jumping up running out of the building.

"Ara? Shouldn't you get Sango-chan and tell her that the academy let out fifteen minutes ago?" Naruto asked looking out the window to see her zooming away. Miroku and Kagome shared a look and laughed.

"Come on let's catch up to her." All of them ran out together after Sango yelling her name at the top of their lungs.

"I guess I'll have to write you another note for you to give to the hotel manager Kaede-san to let him know that you will be staying for two more nights." As Hiruzen wrote out the note he felt truly glad for Kagome who had such a strong bond of friendship with Naruto. The villagers knew he was a Jinchuuriki to the Kyuubi and as the Sandaime, he ordered everyone to not mention anything about the incident. Naruto had lived a hard life without happiness that's why he was so unwilling to let his one friend go, in fear of losing her forever. It seemed that Kagome knew how to deal with Naruto's insecurities though. For that he was truly, truly glad.

'I wonder who Sango's 'pretty boy pansy' rival is.' He wondered rubbing his beard.

* * *

What are funny nicknames you've heard for characters?

Best review for the last chapter: Fabulous princess dai


	7. Training

Pages: 12

Words: 5,081

Chapter Seven: Training

* * *

Two days had flown by in the blink of an eye. Kagome stood looking at the giant gates with a green backpack that carried things she wanted to bring. She could see Kaede looking at her from the corner of her eye patiently waiting until she was ready to leave. It was currently four A.M as the two stood by the gates. She hadn't slept; she had waited until Sango and Miroku had fallen asleep before slipping quietly slipping out of bed and turning off their alarms, setting them to wake them up for school.

Then she left them the note she had written when they weren't looking, on her bed. She grabbed her backpack and Kirara, then went to Naruto's apartment using the key he had given her to get inside and made sure his alarm was set for school and left him a note as well. She had gone to visit Sasuke, who was still recovering in the hospital. Sasuke didn't seem like himself at all…but she had woken him up around three A.M.

"So you're leaving Konoha so that you can live with your Obaa-chan?" Sasuke's quite voice asked her after Kagome had finished telling him what had happened.

"Un, I won't be at the academy anymore either. Kaede Obaa-chan wants to teach me how to use my reiki whatever that is," Kagome replied swinging her legs back and forth as she sat in a visitor's chair. "But don't worry Sasuke, she promised me after one month, that I can come visit whenever I like and I promise that I'll come visit you."

"Sou desu ka. [is that so.]" Sasuke said tilting his head discreetly trying to catch a glimpse of Kagome's neck, which showed no signs of any trace of there being a bruise.

"I'll break into your house if I have to. Remember your Kaa-san gave me a key." Kagome said jokingly trying to get some sort of emotion out of Sasuke. When she had opened the sliding door he had been sitting up in bed staring out the window with a sullen look on his face.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted tightening his grip on the bed sheets in two clenched fists. His 'Kaa-san' her beaten body flashed in front of his eyes. She was looking up at the ceiling with blood coming out of her mouth; his Chichi-ue's body was thrown on top of her. Then how he ran and jumped over Kagome's body without even trying to see if she was still alive.

"Sumimasen [Excuse me] visiting times are now over, I'll give you five more minutes to finish up your conversation." The nurse said popping her head into the room closing the rattling door behind her. She pitied the child she had to keep an eye on he didn't have a family anymore.

"Okay, we'll you heard her, I've got to go now Sasuke. I'll see you in a month from now," Kagome threw her arms around Sasuke. She noticed he brought his arms up to return the hug but immediately dropped them back to his sides. Kagome just didn't understand why he had done that, she told herself that it was because his arms might have hurt. "I don't really want to go live far away Sasuke I want to be here for you………but I already said I was going to…. While I'm away you're going to get a lot stronger aren't you Sasuke?" 'When I found out my family had died I was the same way…'

"H-hai." Sasuke replied feeling somewhat shocked, how did-? She continued talking to him while she hugged him.

"Well then I promise you Sasuke that I'm also going to get stronger so I can protect the things that I love, just you wait and see!" Kagome said with a smile releasing him from the hug and jumping off the chair making her way to the door she then turned around and said, "Good luck."

"You too." Sasuke said giving her a small smile watching her leave as while his bangs hung over his eyes.

"And Sasuke if you ever need someone to talk to while I'm gone you can always talk to Sango, Miroku or even Kirara if you like." With that said Kagome slid the rattling door shut behind her before running to the gates to meet up with Kaede.

* * *

"I'm ready to go Obaa-chan. After all I'll be back here in no time." Kagome said giving the quiet village a look over before walking out of the gates.

"Kirara if ye may," Kaede nodded towards the unique two tailed neko who transformed and waited patiently as the two humans got onto her back before taking off into the forest being told were to go by Kaede by light taps on her furry shoulders. "This should be far enough away from the village so no prying eyes can see."

Flames surrounded Kirara's feet as she took off flying in the sky. They stopped for a couple of breaks allowing Kirara to rest, but they arrived at the Kaede's hut five hours after they had departed from Konoha. This totally beat Kaede's two months and a half it had taken the elderly woman to get to the village. The neko transformed back into her smaller form going off to explore her new surroundings, maybe kill a couple of mice or rabbits if she got bored.

"Kagome this is ye first lesson in meditation," Kaede said not wanting to waste any time. She had to start training Kagome from scratch it was as if the girl knew nothing at all. "Close ye eyes and clear ye mind from distractions I want ye to focus on what surrounds and expand ye senses see if ye can find where Kirara is by using this method, that is ye first exercise. I want ye to stay out here and keep trying to mediate until I come back for ye."

"Wakatta! [Got it!]" Kagome said folding her legs beneath her body, closing her eyes clearing her mind from all distractions.

When Kaede went outside to grab some herbs from her garden for the stew she was making she looked over to the spot where she had left Kagome to practice mediating. The girl's head was down and hung over her body in a relaxed manner but it wasn't until Kagome let out a light snore did that alert Kaede that the girl had been sleeping the entire time! Grabbing a log that's purpose, other than today, was to burn as fire wood, the log soon found itself air born as it was hurled in the direction of the sleeping girl.

"Obaa-chan!" Kagome whined opening her eyes wiping the drool that had come out from her mouth holding onto her throbbing forehead in pain. "What was that for?!"

"Ye must meditate! Tap into ye reiki and focus on finding Kirara. Until then, ye will get nothing to eat." Kaede said making her way back to her hut leaning heavily on the bow to walk. If this was the way Kagome needed to be taught, then so be it.

"Mou…" Kagome said her stomach already rumbling at the thought of food, she was already hungry. "This is hard." She complained to Kaede who was at the entrance of her hut now.

"Of course at times it will be even harder than this. I never said anything would be easy child! Anything worth in life you have to work hard for!" Kaede snapped scolding Kagome as the pain in her body was really becoming unbearable today. She moved faster, even though it made the pain worst. Once in the safety of the hut with the door closed Kaede fell to the ground. Her skin on the younger side of her face changed color and texture, claws grew on her hand and her ear came to a point. She used that claw to tear into the wooden floors pulling up the panels, somehow she was able to force down her cries of agony.

Kagome pouted crossing her legs, she stuck her tongue out and shot glares at the hut her Obaa-chan had retreated into leaving her alone to try and meditate. She changed her facial expression immediately once she remembered that she had willingly gone with Kaede who had offered to train her. Remembering the promises she had made to all her friends she closed her eyes, she was determined more than ever now, she never broke any of her promises and she wasn't about to start.

Everyone she had met had their own special feel to them. Sango's was cool like running your finger the edge of a blade. Miroku's was smooth yet bumpy like the prayer beads he wore around his hand. Sasuke's felt hot and wispy. Naruto's was strange it felt orange and soft. Her face scrunched up, how could you feel the color orange? It didn't matter to her that's what his 'special feel' felt like. Kaede's was-

"Chotto matte! [Wait a minute!]" She said opening her eyes and whacking herself on the same spot on forehead that Kaede had thrown a log at. She winced she was supposed to be finding Kirara not finding everyone else. With a huff she shut her eyes once more Kirara's special feel felt, sharp, but the stronger feeling Kagome felt when she thought about Kirara was as if you were running your hand down her smooth giant fang and pleasant warmth. Biting her lip she kept that in mind when she searched for the exact same feeling. Ignoring the same sharp feeling when she 'searched' through Kaede's hut she needed to continue her search for Kirara who was located ten miles away in a forest and near some water.

"Sugoi [Cool] I did it!" But how had she known that Kirara was near water? That was just weird. It was cool though she wondered if Sango, Miroku, Naruto or Sasuke would do this. Then feeling mischievous she wondered if she could pin point where they were at the moment. A smile played on her lips when she found them. Sango, Miroku and Naruto were at close together probably at the academy and she found Sasuke's feeling rather far away from the others, so she concluded that he was still in the hospital.

Kaede let out a groan grabbing onto anything she could use to help her stand up, she finally had managed to fight back the demon blood from surfacing it truly was a horrible fate. She often referred to the pain in her body as what it would feel like if a person were the actual Shikon no Tama. With a demon and priestess souls in a constant battle to survive, only when it came to Kaede's old body, it was apparent that the demon side was slowly winning. A light feathery sensation passed over her body her dry lips twisted upwards in a smile. If Kaede didn't know what it was she wouldn't have noticed, but she knew that Kagome had finally figured out how to use her reiki to sense auras.

"Obaa-chan I did it I found Kirara, she's over in that direction and near water. I'm ready to eat now! It smells really good." Kagome said walking inside the hut looking at a giant pot cooking over an open fire in a pit.

"So how did ye find her? The food is not yet ready so ye will have to wait."

"Wakaranai [I don't know] Kirara has a _special_ feeling and I found it." Kagome shrugged her shoulders watching Keade dumping in a bunch of vegetables into the boiling pot.

"This 'special feeling' as ye called it, is actually called an aura. That is what ye sensed and what ye used to know exactly where Kirara was. This is skill is very essential and helpful as a Miko. Ye can use this to locate people ye want to find," The vegetables were giving a stir with a wooden ladle. "While ye wait ye can find out where Sango and Miroku are by locating their auras."

"That's no fun, I've already done it, and it was easy. They're both at the academy." She stated placing her hands behind her head walking around the hut looking around.

The hut was messy. There were papers, scrolls and books over every surface. There was a small wooden table with deep grooves carved away into in them the chairs and the floor looked the exact same. Actually the floor was worse. Kaede's bed wasn't in the best condition either it looked like an animal had attacked it, that just might have happened to because it was directly under a window that had a shredded curtain that blocked out any light from getting in. The room dark, the only source of light was from the fire pit in the middle of the Kaede's house. Shelves covered all of the walls especially above the sink. Over there the shelves were crowded with hundreds of labeled jars filled with various dried plants and herbs some of which had been ground into a powder and there were also dried and pickling vegetables in some jars.

"Then ye can pull out the weeds from my garden. Ye must go around back- not yet, come back here Kagome and hand me four sheets of paper from that pile, that pot of ink that is on top of my kettle and that brush on the ground," Once the tip of the brush had been dipped into the ink it flew over the papers with long elegant brush strokes. "Roll up ye pant legs- what are those?"

"They were a present from Gai-sensei! They made it so it was harder for me to walk." Kagome said proudly not only that but they did make her legs awfully itchy sometimes.

"Ah Naruhodo [I see], ye must take them off, now hand them to me. Hmmmmm….. Naruhodo, hand me two more sheets of paper." Kaede crumpled the two she held in her hand dropping them into her garbage. Then took the two fresh sheets of papers and dipped her brush back into the ink pot writing different characters on the paper letting them dry before slowly kneeling down in front of Kagome's legs.

Kagome let out a sigh it felt good to take the things that Gai had given to her, off. She didn't know that her Obaa-chan was so demanding. And what was the old woman doing now? She was on the floor in front of her bare legs wrapping a piece of glowing paper around each her ankles. It disappeared into her skin leaving her with a small thickly lined black circle the size of a bottle cap on both sides of her ankles. Inside of the circle was something that looked like a forty five. "What are you doing to me?"

"I'll explain in due time, ye must hold out ye arms now." Kaede said leaning heavily on her counter top relying on it to help her stand up again.

Kagome did as she was told and more and glowing paper was wrapped around each of her forearms disappearing into her flesh. Her arms suddenly dropped to her sides, it was harder for her to lift them and there was the same black circle with a small twenty on the inside. Her legs were another story, it was as if someone had attached fifteen bricks to each one of her legs and was forcing her to walk. "Mou….Obaa-chan what is this?"

"Part of ye training now go pull out every single last one of those blasted weeds from my garden." Another bucket of vegetables were dumped into the simmering pot.

"Slave driver this isn't even the first day either," Kagome mumbled so quietly under her breath as she walked out the hut before turning around and saying, "Fine, but you better be making tons of extra food because I'm going to eat it all!"

* * *

Surely enough Kagome was true to her word, she had ended up finishing off the entire pot of soup even when it had been served with a giant bowl of rice. Kaede watched with a wide eye as Kagome managed to scarf down everything, suddenly the old priestess no longer felt hungry anymore and placed the half finished bowl on the ground with a grunt. This girl was acting like- InuYasha when it came to his ramen noodles, only worse if that was even possible. She wiped off the soup splatters mixed with saliva that had landed on her face. The splatters had gotten there when Kagome had started 'eating' which was more like swallowing all the food without even chewing. Of course Kaede knew the real reason why Kagome needed to eat as much as she did, but the girl could still be tasteful going about regaining her energy back.

"Are you going to finish that Obaa-chan?" A finger pointed towards the half full bowl of soup.

"Ye are still-? Never mind ye can have it," The elderly woman didn't bother to finish asking her question it was no use. The bowl was taken from her hand and disappeared in one gulp. "So have ye finished pulling out all of those weeds?"

"Iie I'm barely half way done pulling them out of your garden and my arms already hurt," Kagome groaned when she was told that she had to finish weeding the entire garden before she would get any dinner. When Kagome had heard the word 'garden' she had thought of a small patch of dirt with a couple of weeds in it, but no. What she got was an acre of 'garden' which was purely filled entirely of prickly weeds. "There is already a huge pile of weeds in the bin behind your house. I don't even know where to put them anymore!"

"..Training," A tick mark thumped on Kaede's forehead from anger as she yelled. "How many times are ye going to complain about something I tell ye to do?" The wooden ladle was held in a threateningly manner ready to whack the young child on the head.

"I just don't understand how this pertains to 'reiki' training." Kagome responded it was just that all she saw that she was doing was just pulling out weeds for an old woman and that hardly seemed like training to her.

"It takes patience, accuracy, muscle and concentration to pull out the weeds from the earth does it not?" Kaede asked using a bucket to pour water into the pot so she could clean it out and use it for their next meal.

"Un… I think I get it now, so this _is _just all part of my training. Alright Obaa-chan I'm going to go finish weeding your garden for you!"

"In some ways weeding my garden is like training for Kagome I suppose, I can't believe she bought that. I just wanted my garden to be finally weeded. I can't stand the sight of those weeds." Kaede chuckled while dumping out the dirty water she used to clean her pot, off to the side of her house.

"There Obaa-chan! I'm finished weeding your garden." Kagome announced cracking her back as she re-entered the hut it was so dark outside now. A bowl of steaming hot noodles with lots of vegetables was placed in her hands. She wanted to shove all the noodles in to her mouth because she was so hungry but it took her awhile to be able to wrap her very sore fingers around the chopsticks. All of her fingers were bright red and puffy her index one on both of her hands looked the worst. "Itadakimasu [Thank you for the food]"

"Ye are welcome…..ah I see Kirara that ye have brought me two hares?"

"Rawwr." Kirara replied with a nod of her big head dragging the two dead mammals into Kaede's hut. She was willing to sacrifice these ones. After all she had already caught and eaten five fish from the river and three of those hares. They were fun to catch and much better tasting than the dozens of rats and mice she had eaten in Konoha.

"Alright come here I'm going to remove the weights from ye arms and legs until I deem ye ready to wear some all the time." After Kaede her heavily callused hand over the area she peeled off the edge of the paper with ease using a small bit of reiki to do so.

"This feels so much better! So Obaa-chan, where are Kirara and I going to sleep?"

"Both of ye are going to sleep in a separate hut together this is the key do not lose it because there is only one," Kaede warned as she handed the key to Kagome. "Ye must go outside, go past my garden until ye reach a tree then ye must turn right and the continue walking. Don't forget to take ye belongings Kagome."

"Hai Obaa-chan oya-oyasuminasai…. [go-good night…]" A very sleepy Kagome yawned putting the key on her necklace adding it to her growing collection of keys after picking up her bag and placing it on her back.

"Oyasuminasai Kagome and Kirara, I will see ye tomorrow."

Kirara guided the half asleep girl to the small hut Kaede had been talking about. Once the door was unlocked the neko used her teeth to shake the dust off the covers and to tuck the extremely worn out Kagome into bed. Her backpack lay deflated, forgotten at the entrance. Kirara snorted out a sneeze the place was very dusty it looked as if no one had been in here for at least fifty years probably even more than that. Using her two tails she dusted the entire place making sure to get all the cobwebs, no dusty surface was safe from her spinning twin tails! She went outside and shook all the dirt from her tails using the leaves from a bush to help clean them off but also quickly swirled them in a clean puddle of water that was nearby. Once Kirara was done she closed the door behind her and using one of her paws she locked the door. Then she transformed into her smaller form, jumped onto the bed, made herself comfortable and fell asleep.

The next morning Kagome awoke she just lay there staring at the ceiling for an hour. Her arms and legs felt like led weights that would twinge with pain every now and again. She eventually turned her head to one side getting a good look around the hut. The size of the room was a little smaller than the size of Kaede's place it was a lot cleaner too. There was a bookcase full of books leaned against the wall right across from her. The bookcase was close to the door, there was large rectangular table with a stack of yellowing paper on it, at the foot of her bed two feet away was a small dresser and there was the window spilling in the bright light from the outside world into the room. The bright light had caused her to wake up. How or why she had managed to drag herself out of bed, Kagome will never know. She struggled to turn her bag upside down emptying her backpack. She had the strangest feeling that she was going to need it today.

"Onegai _no more_ weeds." Kagome muttered sitting down at the table digging into her share of the cooked piece of rabbit with rice, polishing it off before Kaede even had time to get back to the table.

"Iie, there will be no weeds, they are all gone. Today ye will be studying these scrolls I want ye to read through them all. Ye can go outside or back to your hut and read them. I just want ye to practice on controlling ye reiki into ye hands for the next couple of weeks. Once ye have complete control and are able to summon ye reiki as ye please I will move to the next lesson." Kaede dumped massive armfuls of scrolls into Kagome's backpack until the fabric started to rip at its seams, it could hold no more than shoved more into her arms..

"You're crazy if you expect me to get though all of these today!" She tiredly yelled with her eyes bulging there had to be at least fifty or more and each of them were three or more inches thick!

"Nay not today child in the next couple of months ye should be done. Two months should be sufficient enough. I am being too generous with the amount of time I am giving ye. Back in my day I had to read through that amount of literature in one month. This is the only day I will be giving ye time to read through them after today ye will have to make time to do so."

"But you'll be training me on top of all this…" Kagome mumbled, she couldn't even see where she was going with so many scrolls piled high.

"What was that? Did you want to read all of it in one month?"

"I said, it's a nice day out that you've given me to read all of these."

* * *

"That last youkai was just nasty. There is no reason for there to be purple goo inside of a youkai." Kagome grumbled to herself holding a giant handful of herbs to clean the globs of gunk out of her hair.

Her first real battle, she had thought Kaede had used the youkai part of her to manipulate the trees in the surrounding area like she always did, turning them into some enemies. Since that's what the youkai blood inside of Kaede allowed her to do even if it made the younger part of her spread quicker to the older half. It was part of her training that her Obaa-chan made her do. But these were legitimate bunch youkai that had really tried to eat her.

Due to all the training she had been doing the battle couldn't have gone any better. Some injuries she sustained could have been avoided because of a bad fall but her Obaa-chan had made sure she was able to maneuver her body to fall safely under many different circumstances. That was one of the worst three weeks she lost count how many times she knocked herself out because she landed on her head. Then Kaede would take great pleasure in smacking her in the face a couple of times to wake her up so she could do it again.

"Seriously?" She asked herself pulling out another giant chunk of flesh before dunking her head under the ice cold water.

"Hungry… me see ningen me eat! Tasty tasty Raaarrrggghhh!"

"Mou!" Kagome blocked the arm shaped like a bat from crushing her body. The smell of skin burning filled the air as the arm was burned by reiki. 'It's a one eyed ogre…'

"HURRRRRRT!" It stomped around angrily shaking the trees waving its arm around then tried to bash the young girl again.

She jumped out of the way then wiped a rock into its eye. The target practice Kaede had been making her do was really helpful. Watching as it screamed in pain she gathered a ball of reiki into her hand and slammed it into the ogre's stomach wincing when it smashed its arm into her side twice tossing her body into the air.

"What this?!" It screamed stomping around with its eye closed as it rubbed its bumpy green hand where the wound was smearing around its blood.

'That really hurt.' Kagome kicked her leg into the ogre's back making it fall forward onto its knees. Then she jumped back before it whacked her in the side again.

"Die!" While she was jumping back the ogre stood up and grabbed both of her legs and held her up to its red watering eye and shook her. It would grind her bones for some bread and make a nice roast from the flesh.

"You're making me really late." Kagome complained gathering another ball of reiki and pressing it against its face scrunching up her face at the foul odor of the ogre's breath. She winced when it bashed its bat like arm into her other side but she refused to move and continued holding her hand there until it completely disintegrated. She twisted her body around so she wouldn't crack her skull open when she hit the ground.

As she washed her hands, to get rid of the odor, in the river and kicked around the pile of ashes she thought Sango would have loved to get her hands on the bones of the massive beast. Too bad Kagome just wasn't in the mood to not use her reiki to slay the enemy. Sure there were those times were she felt like playing around with the youkai that sought her out, but not today.

"Child where have ye been all this time? Ye are late for ye lesson this isn't very becoming of ye." Kaede asked holding the wooden ladle threateningly in Kagome's direction with a cup of freshly brewed steaming hot tea sitting in front of her.

"It's not my fault youkai have been trying to eat me all morning." She cowered holding her hands over her head for fear that the old woman would smack her in the head.

"Then why have ye not been suppressing ye aura and ye powers like I taught ye to? That is mostly what is contributing to all those youkai attacking ye. Since ye may have not noticed it ye powers have already grown tremendously in this last year. Ye must keep ye emotions in check that is what is causing ye to lose ye control!"

"I forgot about that…Itai!" She held her head that now had a lump on it, courtesy of the wooden ladle.

"All these lessons ye are being taught are vital and will help ye, when I think ye are ready to return to Konoha. Now come here it is time to change ye weights again."

"Roughly how long do you think it will be until I can go back for good?"

"It varies if ye keep on forgetting the lessons I teach ye it will take longer but if you are committed perhaps another year or so."

* * *

How would you describe Kagome's aura?

Best review for the last chapter: Bloodcherry


	8. Back

Pages: 10

Words: 5,058

Chapter Eight- Back

* * *

"I can't believe that almost _three years_ went by…" A sigh escaped from the now ten, almost eleven year old Kagome as she jumped over the tree tops running through the forest. Her stuffed green backpack brushed against some braches she lightly starched over the bandages that hid the weight symbols. Every three or so weeks for the last _almost _three years, Kaede had steadily increasing the amount of weight on Kagome's legs by four and on her on her arms by two and a half pounds so it would suffice to say that her muscles where carrying quite an enormous amount around.

"Rwarwr." Kirara responded running up behind her. She was carrying a bunch scrolls on her back that was tied around her neck.

"Arigato for all the help, I'm sure this more fun than when you tag along Sango and Miroku doing their lame D class missions."

It was true. Sango and Miroku both had graduated from the academy and had a Jounin instructor now his name was Ebisu-sensei. They told her about the test they had to pass before actually becoming real Shinobi. Sango and Miroku had to take the sunglasses off of his face and if someone did succeed in getting his glasses whoever didn't have his glasses, he told them that they would be sent back to the academy. Ebisu-sensei just didn't count on Sango and Miroku working together after he had tried to set them against each other. Miroku had seen through Ebisu-sensei right at the start and Miroku told Sango that if one of them had to be sent back to the academy that he would go. So they worked together Sango's brute strength, Kirara's tracking and Miroku's logic and trickery combined all together they were able to get the glasses off of his face.

"Bleh I get to go back to the academy though, but hopefully I'll be in Naru-kun's or Sasuke's class," Kagome remembered skidding to a stop as they came to a clearing. "Let's take a break." She sat down on a fallen tree and knocked on it, this was the perfect tree to use for firewood and over there that plant was good for putting on a cut and the little plant growing near her right foot was completely safe to eat and it sort of tasted like cucumber.

Learning about all sorts of herbs, plants as well as poisons was the second last lesson her Obaa-chan had taught her before passing away. When Kagome had learned about these edible plants in the forest she almost exploded, it was just a moment you had to be there for, Sango and Miroku could vouch for her. They came up for the last two summers Kaede also gave Miroku and Sango weights on their arms and legs. Their Obaa-chan taught Miroku about infusing his amount of reiki into those papers what were they called again…something with an 'O'….. 'O-F?' Kagome snapped her fingers the word she was looking for was ofuda. Miroku was much more skilled at writing and using the ofuda's than her. He also found all the scrolls interesting to read so he spent most of his time reading them whenever he came to visit.

With Sango, Kaede had mainly focused on getting her to relax, because Sango always had great difficulty tapping into her chakra. Since she was always training all the time with Hiraikotsu as well as many other weapons she excelled in taijutsu [physical attacks] but wasn't as skilled in ninjutsu [ninja techniques] or genjutsu [illusion]. Then if Sango was able to tap into her chakra, she was either using too much, making her tired faster or too little which made the technique really weak. It was always sad when they had to go back to Konoha because they still were attending the academy but Sango wanted to beat Neji's score which Sango was so close in doing so only five more percent and she would be labeled the person of her year, or something like that- it was probably called the rookie. The title didn't matter to Sango it was the pleasure she was going to get from rubbing her grade into pretty boy pansy's face!

As time went by it was easy to see that Kaede's condition had greatly worsened. Almost her entire face was taken over by the younger looking Kaede, the demon blood part of her. She stayed in bed withering in pain; no one could do anything to help her it was horrible to watch. Kagome stayed by her side she had once tried to use her reiki on Kaede's body but instead of helping her Obaa-chan she had burned her.

"I don't get it." Kagome whispered as she looked at the even more pained expression on her Obaa-chan's face, it was changing now too but Kagome wasn't scared she had seen it happen once before. The first time she had seen it she admitted she was frightened, but it was still Kaede Obaa-chan.

She had used the exact same healing reiki that she used on the first sedated rabbit Kaede had given her to heal. There were a jagged teeth marks on the stomach of the rabbit and its hind legs were both broken. It taken her three solid days to heal the wound and fix its broken bones once she had she immediately went to show her Obaa-chan who congratulated her and gave the rabbit something that brought it back from dream world. Kagome was so happy and released the bunny back into the wild. Only moments later Kirara trotted into the hut, with the same rabbit she had spent the last three days healing, _dead_ in her massive jaws.

"Kirara!" Kagome whined removing the bleeding dead rabbit from the neko's mouth sitting on the floor, she was all worn out from using her reiki to heal it. 'Poor little guy.'

"Kagome it is fine ye are going to be healing many things until ye are able to do so in a timelier manner. Three days is much too long to take to heal something, or someone. What if that injured hare had been one of ye friends and was life threatening, they wouldn't have been able to wait for three days for ye to heal them."

"_Urusai_ [Shut up] at least I did it." Kagome muttered crossing her arms and turning her head to the side, she was now in a bad mood.

The reiki she had first summoned to her hands because she was told to the same reiki she used to attack things was always blue but when she wanted to purify or heal something it was a light pink color. She found that weird it was the same reiki so why wasn't it the same color? Kagome frowned when she couldn't answer her own question.

As she looked at Kaede lying in her bed Kagome remembered Kaede's favorite lesson that she had given. It was the most important in her eyes. It was called 'coat Kagome's body with an unknown substance then have Kirara drop her off in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but the sticky clothes on her body and hopefully she will find her way back and not get killed.' Or more simply 'dump Kagome in a forest full of dangerous monsters that wanted to eat her and see if she would survive and if she did, do it again' even more simple than that 'extreme survival training.' Oh yes, once her Obaa-chan had no more lessons to teach her except getting her to practice everything that she had taught her.

Kagome would find herself unexpectedly in the middle of the night when she was sound asleep Kirara would gently pick her up of off her bed, fly faaaaaaar away then place her in some sort of clearing before running off. The first time Kaede had done it Kagome came back four weeks later almost half dead. The second time she came back three weeks and looking better than the first time. Just before Kaede was unable to move anymore it was her forty third time being thrown out into the wilderness and she came back three days later looking utterly happy and healthy.

Kaede passed away a few days after Sango and Miroku had graduated from the academy. She looked like a peaceful sleeping twenty year old only there was no more pain or suffering. The Sandaime excused Sango and Miroku from the team selection process so that they would be able to bury their Obaa-chan's body and say their goodbyes because of that Sango and Miroku had to be put together onto a two person team under the watchful eyes of the elite Jounin, Ebisu-sensei.

"Rrrwaarrr."

"Un, you're right let's start heading back now Kirara no point stopping now since we're almost there anyways. How about a race? Ready?" They crouched down, "...Set," their muscles tensed and "….GO!" they both took off becoming blurs to anybody who was watching.

The gates were so close with one giant jump Kagome came to a sliding stop directly passing through the gates. She took a couple steps out of the village to wait for Kirara. Not a moment later the glow of flames could be seen and the small two tailed neko dragging the pouch over to where she was standing. With a "Mew" Kirara jumped on top of Kagome's head as she picked it up.

"You there state your business with Konoha." A voice called from above, from one of the towers. Any of his facial features were being blocked by the bright rays of the sun.

"Mou I have a pass from the Hokage-sama, hora? [see?]" She said carefully placing her bag of jars down pulling out and waving around the piece of green paper, from her pocket.

"Let me see that…..Hey don't I know you? HA! I knew it you're that gaki from that niwatori youkai incident. Cept now you're older now, let me see that paper." An older Kotetsu said taking the paper from her hands once he had jumped down from the watch tower.

"Sure?" Kagome tilted her head to the side, she really didn't remember them this porcupine head at all.

"Keh, whatever you're allowed in. I'm keeping this pass though it expires soon anyways."

"Come on Kirara lets drop this stuff off at home and I have to get ready to go to the academy. Then after the academy we'll go surprise Naru-kun he'll be happy to know that I'm staying for good and maybe I'll finally get to spend time with Sasuke too!" Kagome picked up the scrolls and ran off. Whenever she came to visit Sasuke would always be training so hard that he barely had any time to talk or play. He mutter about needing to 'protect' and get 'stronger' it was rather boring. Though she concluded, he might have changed in the last year while she was busy taking care of her Obaa-san.

* * *

"KAGOME NEE-SAN?! You're still alive?! Or are you a ghost!" Naruto yelled from the back of the classroom. He had been feeling depressed that the academy had started again and that genius who was being called rookie of the year, Sasuke was in his class. Naruto had been trying to glare a hole into the very center of Sasuke's freakishly pale forehead, but looked away thinking Iruka-sensei had entered the classroom but when he looked glumly towards the door he was surprised to see that it was his best friend Kagome!

"Mou Naru-kun, I'm not dead." Kagome said with a smile feeling a little twitchy at all the stares she was getting. Her senses were heightened from spending so much time in the quiet outdoors it felt like everyone in the classroom was yelling at the top of their lungs. She got a sharp tingly feeling the first time when she had come back to the village and sensed Naruto's aura. She had learned this 'sharp' feeling meant there was a youkai nearby. She was confused at the meaning. At first she thought Naruto had to be part youkai....Or have a youkai close by him but then realized it was inside of him…somehow but she didn't care she was still going to be his friend! While living in the wilderness with Kaede she had met some nice youkai a couple of times. Most of the one she met had been bad, but it meant that there _were_ good youkai out there. Naruto was one of the good ones!

"You're in this class?! If you are you can sit beside me." He was jumping up and down in his seat from excitement grinning from ear to ear.

"Isn't that obvious." A calm voice spoke directed at Naruto as obsidian eyes flicked lazily in the loudmouth's direction. He felt a little irked, since it seemed like the loser somehow knew Kagome and referred to her as his older sister. He felt somewhat relieved that she hadn't changed much. He didn't know why but his heart contracted slightly when she acknowledged him with a smile.

"SASUUUUKE-KUN JUST SPOKE!!" A bunch of girl's high pitched voices cried out with glee hearts thumping madly in their eyes and their hands clenched tightly held against their chests as they so desperately wished to Kami [God] that they could hear him speak again.

"Urusai na [Shut the hell up] Sasuke!" Naruto gruffly huffed scooting his but over in his isle as he made room for Kagome to sit down beside him.

"HEY YOU CAN'T SPEAK TO SASUKE-KUN LIKE THAT!"

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE NA-RU-TO?!"

"SASSSUUUUKKEEE-KUN YOU SHOULD BEAT HIM UP!"

"YEAH BEAT HIM-"

"WILL YOU GUYS BE QUITE I CAN HEAR YOU GAKI'S YELLING FROM DOWN THE HALL GET INTO YOUR SEATS RIGHT NOW!" Iruka-sensei yelled his spit flying everywhere as he slammed the classroom door violently open. Everyone scurried back into their seats without saying a word. "Good! Now I'm going to call out your names, just raise your hand once you hear it. Aburame, Shino-"

"Ne, Nee-san isn't Iruka-sensei super scary when he's yelling?" Naruto whispered to Kagome who had just uncovered her ears from when everyone had starting their yelling match.

"Un, Is he always like this Naru-kun?"

"Er, well, Iruka-sensei can get really angry at you for no reason, when that happens you have to run away without looking back. Once you escape you're fine, but if he catches you, you're done for," Naruto slid his finger across his throat which stood for 'you are dead.' Then he looked back to the front of the class where Iruka was still going down the list calling out names. "He can be nice too, sometimes he buys me ramen! I found the best place to eat at they have THE best ramen ever you have to try it!"

"Honto? [Really?] Where?" Kagome felt her mouth water, if Naruto was saying this place had the best ramen ever then the place REALLY must have the best ramen ever.

"Ichiraku Ramen! Heh heh, we should go there sometime."

"Hig-ur-ashi, Ka-go-me?" Iruka looked around the classroom for a raised hand. He didn't recognize the name on the list. Most of the other students he had taught at least once before, or at least heard about them in the staff room. No one had raised their hand he called out the name again, "Higurashi, Kagome?" This time his eyes went to the back of the classroom to a girl who was happily sitting beside Naruto- he checked her name off his list- WHAT?! This girl was willingly sitting beside the number one troublemaker in the entire village. Did she know what she was getting herself into? Naruto would probably cut her hair off or maybe even glue her eye lids closed! "Is that- are you sure you want to be sitting there? You are aware that you are going to be sitting for the rest of the year, right?"

"Hai! Iruka-sensei!" Kagome answered with a pretty smile on her face even though she thought that he acted abnormal.

Little did Iruka know that Naruto and her were going to do all that they could possibly do make his teaching life completely miserable. He soon found out later on in the week that Kagome barely appeared to pay attention in his class she was always doing something else. He was determined to catch her off guard if she was embarrassed for not knowing how to properly answer his question she was more likely to listen to his lessons.

"If a Fumma Shuriken collides with a Kunai which weapon is the impact force greater?" He sighed at the lack of raised hands, he felt triumphant when he found the opportune moment presented itself while Kagome was reading when she was not supposed to. "Higurashi, what is the answer?"

"The impact force is identical because of the action-reaction force," She supplied glancing up meeting his shocked expression. "Am I right?"

"H-hai that's correct." Iruka replied 'how did she do that?!'

The same day after recess orange and blue spit balls keep hitting the blackboard, this was four days in a row, exactly at the same time each day for the entire period! He had, had it the chalk he had been holding was instantly crumbled into a fine dust as he spun snorting heavily like a bull was about to charge, looking directly at Naruto. After all these were his colors, he was utterly flabbergasted when he saw Naruto squinting his eyes at the board scribbling down the work, then his eyes shifted to the clock before looking at him, Naruto's blue eyes met his brown ones. Well if it wasn't Naruto- then who was it? He gave up and sighed, getting the last piece of chalk from his desk turning back to the blackboard to continue writing out his lesson before the end of the day bell, rang.

"Naru-kun how come whenever something bad happens Iruka-sensei always looks in your direction first?" Kagome asked turning her head to look at Naruto who was tallying up the scores for today.

"That's because he knows that I'm the most likely person to do something I guess. Ha ha I win!" Naruto said passing the sheet of paper to Kagome when he was done with it.

"Lemme see that," Kagome pouted and took the paper her eyes scanning over the sheet, this game had been her idea. It was an entire class period game. Fifty points if you hit the chalk out of the teachers hand and five points if you got it on the black board but minus 100 points if you hit the teacher or anybody else. Poopy, Naruto had beaten her by ten points. Her eyes quickly darted towards the clock. There was still a minute left until the bell! Reaching into her pocket she tore off two small blue pieces quickly chewed them, pulled out her straw, aimed and fired, then hid the evidence and watched as the two spit balls flew through the air making a splat noise as one of them hit its target, the chalk in Iruka's hand, while the other spitball just hit the blackboard. She looked to Naruto and whispered, "I win!"

"HEY THAT WASN'T FAIR!" Naruto yelled jumping up when he noticed what she had done, he looked towards the clock. "You cheated!"

"…What's not fair Naruto-kun!?!" Iruka-sensei yelled his whole body shaking as the last piece of chalk he had lay on the ground, in pieces.

"N-no-nothing Iruka-sensei!" Naruto stuttered sliding as far back as he could in his seat as Iruka stormed up the stairs to stand right in front of his desk his nostrils flared angrily.

"Sensei, it was just that Naru-kun was copying the work off from the board when you chalk fell." Kagome said easily covering up the real reason, she was glad she could think so fast on her feet. Or in this case seat…since she was si- nevermind.

"I was-? Ahem, I was Iruka-sensei, I'm trying very hard to be a good model student now and you don't believe in me." Naruto said catching on poking his finger into Iruka's face glaring at him.

"Y-you w-e-were copying N-NOTES?! SINCE WHEN DO YOU COPY NOTES NARUTO-KUN?!" Iruka yelled feeling victorious as he found thought that he found a flaw in his web of lies since Naruto tended to be dramatic and over exaggerate things when he lied.

"Since, uh since I - LOOK AT THE TIME IRUKA-SENSEI TIME TO GO AHA HA SEE YOU TOMORROW!" Naruto said when the bell rang running out of class before Iruka could catch him pushing everyone else out of the way.

"Sayonara [Goodbye] Iruka-sensei have a good day." Kagome smiled quickly gathering up her stuff before leaving the class room. Iruka just shook his head, perhaps Kagome was just the kind of person Naruto needed in his life.

* * *

With arms raised high over head Kagome yawned, she was bored Naruto was working on a prank that he didn't want to tell her about. That was fine with her. It gave her time to put one of her solo pranks into action. Two girls were going to be her target they were constantly bickering with each other and made Kagome feel like their shrill voices drilled themselves a hole into her head just so they could bang on her eardrums. When the pink haired girl, Sakura, had insulted the blonde haired girl, Ino's hair that's when she had gotten the idea.

Kaede's lessons where really helping her now, to make some super special hair dye. She even knew how to get them to use it to! Every part of her plan was perfect, everything was planned out. She even had some pink hair dye left over she could use for another prank, at a later date. She just transferred into another container which she labeled in big capital letters 'DO NOT USE'. Now she just needed a sample of Sasuke's writing.

She had located his aura and was already on her way over to where he was. Maybe she would be able to spend some time with him before she went to Ichiraku Ramen to eat with Naruto. Kagome felt kind of bad, ever since she had gotten back she been spending most the class time reading and then on recess she would hang out with Naruto and she felt horrible because, she hadn't paid any attention to Sasuke. It was rather difficult to at recess because he would go to the school's training area and a veracious pack of girls of all ages would follow him there. But still, what kind of friend was she? Sasuke didn't seem to care though but if it was her she would have been greatly bothered.

She found it really weird was that a bunch of girl's had formed together creating a club in his honor. It had a very original name it was called the 'Sasuke-kun fan club' they had all had these pins on their shirts with his name on it with a bunch of hearts. They spied on him and fought to sit next to him in class, they watched his every move with sighs of adoration. Kagome couldn't help but think that they could be compared to youkai ready to pounce and maim Sasuke's body tearing him into itty bitty shreds each of them wanting a piece, none of them willing to share. Then eventually they would slay each other in the the moment while fighting over Sasuke's remains.

"Why are you here?" Sasuke asked curtly a white towel hanging from his neck; he had just finished his daily training and was coming out of the Uchiha training area when he spotted Kagome making her way over to him.

"I just wanted to visit you. I never really spent any time with you when Obaa-chan let me come to Konoha you were always too busy training whenever I came down." Kagome chatted as she walked along side Sasuke she noted that he was quite a bit taller than she was.

"Hn." Sasuke just grunted yes, he trained extra hard whenever Kagome visited. She was just a reminder that he needed to push himself to the limits so he ignored all distractions and just committed himself. How could he protect her from Itachi if he wasn't strong enough to protect himself in the first place? However he did take the time to notice that she came around much less in the last year.

"Hn? What's that supposed to mean?" She looked confused.

"It doesn't have a meaning." Sasuke said his face void of any expressions.

"…" Kagome turned her head and leered at him before she grabbed his cheeks, the ones on his face, and started pulling and squishing them every which way possible while angrily stressing every word. "WHY. DON'T. YOU. HAVE. ANY. EMOTIONS!"

"Let go!" Sasuke he hissed to her while his eyes bulged out of his eye sockets and his face was attacked by Kagome's strong fingers. When they were gone he rubbed the abused flesh on his face giving her a glare once he had been able to tear Kagome's offending hands off of his sore cheeks.

"Gomen [Sorry]," She muttered crossing her arms over her chest, the lack of expressions really bugged her. "If you want I can make you some dinner." Kagome offered while they stood on the doorstep of Sasuke's house.

"Hn."

"I don't understand what that's supposed to mean?! This is absolutely pointless! You know what I'm going home!" Kagome yelled tugging her hair in frustration, she turned around ready to go back home without a sample of Sasuke's writing. She would find a way to make her prank anyways. This wasn't her friend- Sasuke, that she had known when she was younger! This was just some guy that she had thought she knew. Clearly she had thought wrong and was already down the steps when a hand grabbed her wrist keeping her from leaving.

"Iie stay," Sasuke said looking in the opposite direction one of his eyebrows was twitching madly. It was clear that he was embarrassed, she grinned. "You can use whatever you can find in the fridge. I'm going to shower."

Once Kagome had heard the water running she found his school bag laying at the doorstep she quickly dug around pulling out a discarded crumpled piece of homework her eyes lit up, it was perfect! She quickly shoved it into her pocket before getting started on the meal, in Mikoto-san's kitchen. Ah the memories, she opened up the fridge, which was quiet empty, she pulled out some vegetables then she moved over to search through the cabinets pulling out things she needed before she was ready to cook.

When Sasuke had finished his shower his senses were filled with the smell of a good home cooked meal. He walked into the kitchen to find a bowl of Kakiage Soba [Mixed Tempura Soba Noodles] ready and waiting for him to devour them. He quietly said, "Itadakimasu" before digging into the noodles.

"Ano, Sasuke is it good?" Kagome asked grinning as she watched him leaning her elbows on the table, she had washed up everything she had used to before Sasuke had finished showering, man did he ever take a long time in the bathroom. He was almost bad as Miroku who always hogged up the bathroom leaving no time for Sango and her to get ready in the mornings. He'd say something along the lines of 'Ladies I understand your predicament living with a gorgeous guy such as myself but there is absolutely no need to be so jealous I was just making myself beautiful for all the other ladies out there.' Then either she or Sango whoever was closer would give him a good whack on the head before going to use the bathroom.

"Un." He finally noticed that he was the only one eating.

"So have you been doing for the last couple of years?" Kagome asked taking this time to ask about Sasuke's life, then she would have to go because time was running out and she still needed to forge Sasuke's writing style and then leave her 'gifts' at pinkie and blondies places, then go meet Naruto at the restaurant he was talking about for dinner.

"Training and you?"

"I suppose, but _I _wouldn't call it that, I was more like being some sort of slave. I _swear_ my Obaa-chan was trying to invent things for me to do to see if it would kill me," Kagome replied before her stomach rumbled. "Gomen Sasuke I have to go do something and I'm starving and I promised Naruto that I'd have an eating contest with him, loser pays for both meals."

"Hn." So that's _why _she didn't eat. He wondered if her training had been effective she didn't seem any stronger from the last time he had seen her. What had she been doing all the time she was away?"

"I'll see you at school tomorrow make sure you look out for pinkie and blondie okay?"

* * *

"NEE-SAN! There you are I was going to start without you! I already ordered two bowls one for me and one for you," Naruto yelled sitting back down once Kagome sat beside him. "Where were you?! Why are you so happy looking?"

"I had to drop something off at Sakura-chan's and Ino-chan's house. You'll see what I mean tomorrow," Kagome said with a grin as she broke apart her chopsticks. There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that both of the girls were going to use the special shampoo. Their screams of 'I recognize this writing anywhere this is Sasuke-kun's writing! I'm going to use it straight away! Get out of the shower now! I need to use this!' That was the clear indication her prank was going to turn out very nicely. "Naru-kun you have enough money with you right? Because I don't know about you but I'm absolutely starving."

"Nee-san that's funny, you're making it sound as if you think you're going to win!" Naruto said rubbing his hands together excitedly as he watched the ramen being poured into a bowl. His mouth was watering just thinking about how good it was going to taste.

* * *

Who do you think will win the eating contest?

Best review for the last chapter: VirusYoukaiChild


	9. Fan Club

Pages: 10

Words: 6,045

Chapter Nine: Fan Club

* * *

"That's because I am going to win Naaaaarrrruu-kun." Her mouth watered when the bowl of steaming hot ramen was placed in front of her.

"YOU WISH! I'm totally going to eat more than you!"

"Seconds onegai!" Kagome yelled laughing; she was already done her first bowl.

"BABTS BO AIRRR YOU GOB A BEAB BTABT [That's no fair you got a head start]!" Naruto said trying to speak as he ate as quickly as he could.

Teuchi, who was the owner of Ichiraku Ramen, and his daughter Ayame shared a look with each other. They were glad that Naruto had found himself a friend that didn't judge him. Empty bowls of ramen started to collect as the children continued to eat. The girl was as bad as Naruto! After a whooping seventeen bowls of ramen for the both of them making it a massive total of thirty four bowls for the both of them, each child couldn't possibly eat any more.

"I guess neither of us wins, eh Naru-kun? So we'll each have to pay for our meals," Kagome asked looking to where Naruto was sitting only to find him gone leaving her an 'I.O.U Nee-san' she growled and crumpled up the note while shaking her head and pulled out the money. She paid the owner for both of their bowls of ramen making sure she left them a tip before running off to chase after Naruto. "NARUTO COME BACK HERE! I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!"

* * *

The next day Sasuke found out what Kagome had meant when she said to look out for pinkie and blondie. She had someone managed to switch the two girl's hair colors around. Ino now had disgusting obnoxious pink hair and Sakura had platinum blonde locks. Each of them had worn a hat on their heads to school, but had them torn off by other members from a brainless creepy childish club they had made dedicated to him.

"SAKURA-CHAN WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR BEAUTIFUL PINK HAIR?!" Naruto yelled coming into class the next day to spot his crush sporting a different color of hair.

"URUSAI NA [SHUT THE HELL UP] NARUTO! I DON'T KNOW!" Sakura yelled snapping when the loser of her class started talking to her. She didn't know what she had done to her hair. She had just used the shampoo her precious Sasuke-kun had left her on her doorstep after ringing her door bell then running away because he was such a shy guy and liked her more than that Ino-pig who was now sporting HER signature hair color.

"Hey Ino why'd you ruin your hair with that pink color and to think I was jealous of it before."

"I'D NEVER DYE MY HAIR THIS UGLY PINK COLOR! SINCE SASUKE-KUN CLEARLY LOVED MY BEAUTIFUL BLONDE HAIR NOW HE'LL HATE ME BECAUSE THIS PINK IS SUCH AN UGLY COLOR!" Ino cried her chances with Sasuke were ruined! What had she done to her beautiful hair? She had only washed it with the shampoo Sasuke had left her at her doorstep after ringing her doorbell and running away. She could recognize his writing anywhere and that was the real deal! And what really made her angry was that Sakura had decided to bleach her hair blonde! BLONDE! That was HER color not that billboard brow Sakura's!

"When will you gaki's learn to use something called your INDOOR VOICES!" Iruka yelled tearing the door off its hinges as he stormed into the class. He was in a terrible mood today. He had accidently put dead batteries into his alarm clock, so he had gotten up late which in turn made him get to work late to a class full of hyperactive yelling kids. He was completely preoccupied with just getting through the day; he didn't notice Sakura's or Ino's change of hair color. Nor did he care about their girl troubles.

To make his problems worse, the night before he had been going over the attendance records for the last week and found that every single person had been there. Yet when he compared the sheet to his homework collection, he remembered that he hadn't seen them. Meaning a certain troublemaker was making more trouble, yet again. Only this time he using the henge no jutsu [Transformation Technique] that he taught the previous week. That boy really was the number one village troublemaker. The only reason why Naruto took the time to learn the technique was so he could use it in one of his pranks.

"Sit in your seats and take some paper out, you are going to be copying notes today," A groan of responses and complaints reached his ears. "TAKE OUT PAPER AND COPY THE NOTES!" Immediately everyone complied with his wishes.

* * *

"Mou! Miroku hurry up! I need to take a shower today because I was out training yesterday night. I wanted to take one last night but YOU WERE IN THE BATHROOM THEN TOO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THERE! Don't you understand that I have to go to the academy! I don't want to smell, ARHGH!" Kagome banged her firsts on the door loudly. "I'll break this door down and drag your body out if I need to!"

"MY HAIR! IT'S RUINED!" Miroku's sobbing voice cut though the door, they had run out of shampoo, or so he thought. That was until he found a small sample bottle sitting on the counter top. He used it all to get his head of hair beautiful and soft to the touch. It was for all the kawaii girls, but when he woke up this morning his hair it was…his hair…..it was...was….PINK! He picked up the small bottle and turned it around, only now did he see the smudged 'DO NOT USE' written on it. "I'MMMMM RUUUUINNEDDD!"

"Ano Kagome maybe you should go see if you can use Naruto's shower," Sango suggested as she was putting another coating of polish on Hiraikotsu. Looking down at Kirara as Kagome banged on the bathroom door again she sighed. "I honestly don't know why he takes so long. No matter how much time Miroku spends in the bathroom he always comes out looking the same."

"Sango you're brilliant!" Kagome yelled quickly running to their room to grab a change of clothes before running outside of their apartment and into Naruto's.

"SANGO LOOK WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HAIR!" Miroku yelled bursting out of the bathroom with waterfalls coming out of his eyes as he tugged on handfuls of pink hair. "How am I going to get girls with hair- _this_ color?! I'm ruined, aren't I? RUINED! I'll die alone! I'll have no heir to my name!"

"I stand corrected. This time he looks different," Sango whispered to Kirara while snickering. Miroku looked absolutely ridiculous. "I think it suits you. Come on flamingo head, we're supposed to meet Ebisu-sensei soon, we have another couple of those D class missions to do."

"I'm not going out looking like this! Especially not where any girls can see me!" Miroku yelled frantically pacing around the apartment with his hands clenching his hair. "You'll have to do the mission alone with Ebisu-sensei, I'm not leaving our apartment until my hair returns back to normal!"

"Miroku you're such a drama queen! Ebisu-sensei needs BOTH of us to be there. Otherwise he won't let us do the mission. All of these missions are supposed to be teaching us teamwork. He said if we prove ourselves trustworthy and reliable he'll request that we're given another out of the village mission! Do you know how long I've been waiting for another one of those? Even the Hyuuga's team hasn't gotten another out of the village mission yet! I'm NOT letting you ruin my chances of being the first team to leave the village for a second time," Sango said dragging Miroku out of their apartment. He was hindering her efforts by grabbing onto the walls to keep him from being carried out of the safety of their apartment. Sango and Kirara both rolled their eyes. "Who knows maybe girls will like your pink hair."

"Y-you think so?" Miroku asked with tears in his eyes, maybe Sango was right. Some girls might find his new hair to be even more attractive than his regular dark hair. "Alright I'll go, just let me lock the front door."

"Oi! Naru-kun can I use your shower Miroku's hogging ours again!" Kagome yelled bursting into her friend's dark apartment.

"Unggh? Sure Nee-san." Naruto mumbled rolling over in his bed going back asleep. It wasn't until he heard a scream from his bathroom did he jump out of his bed with a horrified look on his face he really hoped Kagome hadn't used the-

"WHAT THE HELL NARUTO I HAVE A-A A _MAN THINGIE_ DANGLING IN BETWEEN MY LEGS!" Kagome shrieked in a voice that sounded odd shrieking because the voice belonged to that of a boy.

He burst into the bathroom too see a rather good looking sculpted male with shaggy dark hair and bright blue eyes standing in front of the mirror, completely naked. At least he knew the soap worked, he had been working on it for at least five months. Long before Kagome came back from spending a good couple of years training with her Obaa-chan. He had it all planned out, he was going to sneak into Sasuke's house at night and switch it with Sasuke's regular one. He had found out that Sasuke used soap because Sakura had been talking to another girl who was telling Sakura about the brand of soap that Sasuke used. And Naruto had been listening in on their conversation.

"What kind of soap is this Naruto?! So this is what you've been secretly working on!" Kagome grumpily wrapped the towel back around her waist. Then she tore off Naurto's clothing leaving him in his boxers that had little dancing penguins on it. She then shoved him into his shower, after turning it on, and scrubbed the soap all over his body making sure she didn't miss a spot. "This will teach you not to leave your pranks lying around without some sort of warning on them! I don't even have time to do anything about it! I'm going to have to go to academy like this! If I'm late Sango will skin me alive, you know she's crazy when it comes to the academy."

"You're going to rub off all of my skin! Stop, I've learned my lesson Nee-san I swear! It won't happen again." The whiny female cries from a girl who had once been Naruto, he then reached over and grabbed a towel and threw it over his half naked girl body.

"I can't wear any of my clothes! It would look ridiculous and there is no time to go back to my apartment to get some of Miroku's. Can I borrow some of your clothes? You can wear some of mine if you want to, I don't know if they'll fit you though," Kagome didn't wait for an answer she was already digging through Naruto's closet. Everything was orange jumpsuits and black t-shirts! She sighed but grinned triumphantly when she found a pair of wrinkled tan color shorts. They had been shoved all the way at the back of his closet. She stole one of Naruto's boxers and slipped on the clothes quickly wrapping bandages over the weight symbols on her arms and legs. "Come on Naru-kun we're going to be late. I don't want Iruka-sensei to yell at us. His screams are deafening."

"But I have to pee really badly!" Naruto said digging his heels into the ground as he grabbed onto his crotch when Kagome relentlessly pulled him out of his bathroom and out of their apartment building. She was now dragging him through the streets.

"Mou, you can do it as soon as we get to the academy! It's your fault if you're late then Iruka-sensei will yell at you and his saliva will go all over your face and into your eyes!"

"Iie! Not Iruka-sensei's saliva!" Naruto said he was now running alongside Kagome, they made it just as the first bell had rung.

Kagome looked at the new door that had replaced the one Iruka had broken yesterday and sighed loudly before sliding open the door and walking in. The whole room immediately went quiet while the 'hot new boy' made 'his' way to 'his' seat.

"Hey! Anata [You] new kid you can't sit there!" A boy called out getting Kagome's attention.

"Huh? But why?"

"That's were," The boys eyes turned to hearts thumping crazily his voice going a couple pitches higher, "Kaaagooome-kun sits, and as president of her fan club I can't let you sit there."

'….I have a fan club, what the hell? When did that happen?'

"Urusai [Shut up] Tomoki your fan club is stupid and he can sit wherever he wants to!" One of the girl's from the Sasuke fan club yelled glaring at the boy, receiving back up from the other girls in the club. She then turned around to face Kagome watching as 'he' sat down sighing dreamily and batting her lashes, trying to look seductive.

"The Kagome-kun fan club is NOT stupid, your club is stupid….baka [stupid]!" Tomoki said high fiving his buddy who was also in the Kagome-kun fan club.

"The Sasuke-kun fan club isn't stupid! Take that back before the members from the Sasuke-kun fan club make it so it's impossible for any of your members to have any children." Ino said heatedly glaring at Tomoki.

"Ahem, G-Gomen members of Sasuke-kun fan club. Your club is not stupid, but neither is ours!"

"Fine, that will do. Hey new guy what's your name?" Ino asked walking over to where Kagome was sitting. Ino's hair was no longer pink. It had turned back to its original color after three and a half weeks of constantly scrubbing her hair for hours every night before she went to bed and every morning before she came to school.

"I had my eye on him first Ino-pig, so how about you tell ME your name?" Sakura said rushing over getting in front of Ino while trying to make her voice sound light and airy when she talked to the new guy.

"Iie guys! He clearly wants to tell me his name first!"

"No me!"

"ME!"

"Hey why don't you tell all of us your name?"

Sasuke smirked at Kagome who looked at him helplessly as girl's crowded around her as if she was a piece of meat. He had to admit, it had taken him a while to realize who the 'new guy' was but when he looked at the face and saw those bright blue orbs he immediately knew it was Kagome. Naruto must have done something stupid to turn her into a guy. He just watched with a smirk on his face amused to see what she was going to do next. Sasuke wanted to see what Kagome was going to do about the vicious girls from his silly club. They could get really aggressive and not that he would admit it aloud- but they scared him- sometimes- but only a little bit, nothing he couldn't handle- he hoped.

'He-he finds this funny?!' Kagome thought a tick mark appearing on her head before jumping out of the way from being clawed by one of the girls. She stood up on the table. 'Let's see what he has to say about his fan club after this, I bet they're all _ecchi da_! [perverts!]'

The girl's mouths started watering as the new guy, who still hadn't told them his name yet, had unbuckled his pants and had started to slowly peel of the black t-shirt he was wearing showing off the muscles he had. They screamed for more with hearts in their eyes, they were still loyal members of the Sasuke-kun fan club but this new guy was really hot and he actually talked back to them! Maybe they would have a fan club worshiping both two really gorgeous boys.

"So you want to know what my name is?" Kagome asked gruffly, playing the part perfectly brushing her hand threw her short shaggy hair. She felt really strange lifting up her shirt and exposing her chest to the rest of the class, it didn't feel right. She missed her boobs. But she still acted as if everything was normal- like she was a guy…a really strange one that undressed while standing on top of a table, but nonetheless- a guy.

"HAI! HAI! TELL US YOUR NAME! TELL US! TELL US! WE REALLY NEED TO KNOW IT!" They all screamed jumping up and down while squealing madly like the true fan girls they were.

"_Nee-san_?!" Naruto yelled his eyes shooting out of his skull, what the hell was happening? What was Kagome doing standing on their table stripping off all of her- no his (Naruto's) clothes! It was very easy for everyone in the class to see that this was just a female Naruto. The whiskers on his face, the blonde hair, the blue eyes last but not least what really gave it away was the orange and blue jumpsuit that Naruto was always wearing.

"Nee-san?" Ino and Sakura whispered knowing that Naruto only referred to one person that way. Their bodies cracked as they stiffly turned back around with the look of horror clearly in their eyes, they felt like they were going to be sick. They hadn't seen the similarities before, but now they could clearly see who this was now. Those blue eyes should have immediately set alarm bells off in their heads and been a dead giveaway that the hot new guy…. wasn't a guy at all.

"Ha ha, un! That's right, I'm Higurashi, Kagome, and you're all ecchi da!" Kagome's clothing had already been put back where it should belong and she had jumped down from the table, putting her hands behind her head and her feet up on the desk she shot them a huge grin as she chanted 'ecchi da' over and over again.

"K-Ka-Kagome-kun!?!" Tomoki yelled along with some other boys, who were also members of the growing 'Kagome-kun fan club.' They were all crying waterfalls what happened to her pretty face, her long hair and her adorable short huggable frail looking body?!

"Nee-san, I came back to ask you which bathroom do I go into?! The boys or the girls? I couldn't decide so I came back to the classroom to ask you. What the hell were you doing?" Naruto asked dancing from side to side he really, really needed to go pee now.

"You have to go to the girl's bathroom Naru-kun and I was just trying to get all these ecchi da girls away from me!"

"Ok-ay," Naruto said before running out of the class and bumping right into Iruka. "Gomen Iruka-sensei this is a bathroom emergency! You can yell at me later if you want to. I just really have to go!"

'Was that just-?' Iruka rubbed his eyes, he laughed at himself he had just thought he had seen a female version of Naruto running out of his classroom. 'Wow, really should stop staying up so late marking papers for this class.' Thankfully none of his students were yelling when he came in today, that was always a good sign for Iruka.

"Ano, Iruka-sensei, Naru-kun isn't here right now because he had to go to the bathroom _really_ badly." A masculine voice Iruka hadn't heard before, did he have a new student? No one had informed him that there was going to be a new student. Wait- this person called Naruto, 'Naru-kun', only one person did that but- she was a girl!

"Kagome-kun is that you?" Iruka hesitated slightly when he asked the question. He had to bring his hand up to shield his eyes from the sun and squint them together so he could see this guy who sat somewhere in the back of the class, in Kagome's seat. Now that he looked closer it did indeed look like Kagome, if she had been born a male. This prank had Naruto written all over it.

"Un…it's okay though, Naru-kun's a girl."

"Na-ru-to!" Iruka stressed the boy's name out when he came back from the washroom but sighed knowing that it would just be a waste of oxygen to yell at the prankster. It would go in one of his ears and then directly out of the other in a matter of seconds. So instead Iruka had decided that he would just send him back to his seat. Wait how did he have to refer to Naruto's gender now was it her or him…she or she…his or her? Naruto was still a boy, who just looked like a girl right now, so therefore it would continue to be referred to as a male.

"How long does this prank last?" Kagome hissed to Naruto once slid into his seat.

"Wakaranai [I don't know]……a week if you wash yourself a lot or maybe it will last four weeks…wait maybe it will last a month…or was it three months?" Naruto gulped when Kagome glared at him. HJe always felt danger when Kagome glared at him. It made him really nervous because she might use some of that weird energy she had, that wasn't chakra on him. A shiver went down his spine as she continued to glare at him. It he hadn't emptied his bladder before, he would have right now.

"You mean, you don't come up with a something to fix one of your pranks in case, I don't know, you accidentally use it on the wrong person or on yourself?!"

"…I-Iie." Naruto was backed up against the wall now shrinking under Kagome's intense gaze.

"Mou!" Kagome huffed placing her head in her arms mumbling to Naruto, "You better hope it's a week I don't want to have a- you know what- for an entire bloody three months!"

"Well I have to pee sitting down now! At least you get to stand up, those toilet seats are nasty." He said while making a face.

"Hey Ino, how about we form a temporary truce between us." Sakura whispered leaning closer to Ino's seat to get the blonde haired girl's attention.

"Why? This isn't one of your schemes to try and steal Sasuke-kun from me is it?" Ino whispered back immediately suspicious of Sakura's intentions.

"It doesn't and we both know that he'd choose me over you! Anyways, what I was trying to say was that, I know the Higurashi girl is new and all but I've seen her having conversations with Sasuke-kun in class, whenever Naruto goes to the bathroom. Sasuke-kun sometimes converses with her back!" Sakura's voice rose before going back to a whisper, looking over at the table Kagome and Naruto shared, giving Kagome a glare.

"I've seen her talking to him too…. You don't think-?….That she's trying to steal our Sasuke-kun away from us, do you?"

"I think she might be! You know what I think? She's not only trying to steal Sasuke away from us, but she's also trying to get him to turn on us. She changed herself into a hot looking boy to steer us away from Sasuke-kun, so that she could have her all to herself! Did you see her looking in Sasuke's direction when all of the girl's from our club crowded around her asking what her name was because we all thought that she was a new guy?! It was like she was making sure he was looking in her direction before she pulled off her little stunt. She embarrassed all of the Sasuke-kun fan club members'. Right in front of Sasuke-kun! He probably thinks that we don't care about him anymore!"

"Un [Yeah] I did! And how dare that Higurashi girl try and do such a thing like that! Sasuke-kun probably hates us now! What are we going to do?! We have to shower Sasuke-kun with twice as much affection, not that I mind, to make up for what Higurashi did! So Sakura, what does this have to do with a temporary truce? "

"That girl might be a threat, she could be trying to steal Sasuke-kun from right under our noses. You know it's against the rules for anyone outside the Sasuke-kun fan club to have Sasuke-kun! I'm going to bring this topic up with the other club members at today's meeting. Soon she's going to find out that she should stay away from our Sasuke-kun. If she doesn't…I think we should all make it very clear to that Higurashi girl. So that she can understand that we mean business. You know what else I find weird about Higurashi? How she manages to stay so calm. I mean she sits next to the loudest most annoying kid in our class. Yet she hasn't jumped up screaming her head off at him, like everyone else forced to sit next to Naruto…..Anyways so what do you think about my plan?"

"Sounds good. I'm sure the other club members will be glad to hear about this. We can come up with ways to make sure that Higurashi knows to leave our Sasuke-kun alone. Also we have to do something else to her. To make up for that stupid stunt she pulled on our club. She called us… ecchi da!……Ecchi da….right in front of Sasuke-kun!"

"Oh no, Ino! Wh-what if he thinks we're all ecchi da now! All because of her!" Sakura nodded angrily in her head while shooting fire out of her eyes glaring at Kagome who appeared to be sleeping. For the rest of the class Sakura plotted against her. She was going to do everything she could to make sure that Higurashi didn't ruin her chances of Sasuke-kun asking her out.

* * *

Moonlight shone as sweat dripped down Kagome's face. Air was drawn into her lungs, in short quick breaths. She was training and had been doing so for the last two weeks. She knew when she had gotten back to Konoha she had started slacking off. Her Obaa-chan was probably rolling around in her grave right now, at the thought of Kagome not training. Most likely, wanting to break another ladle on Kagome's head or threaten not to feed her. Looking at the tree Kagome had been using as a punching bag she narrowed her eyes jumped up and with one final well aimed reiki infused kick she managed to make the tree come crashing down to the forest floor. She looked at the fallen tree on the ground. Well at least this one she wouldn't be forced to chop into firewood. It just wasn't the same without her Obaa-chan controlling them to attack her. Letting out a giant puff of air, she stretched upwards. 'Well at least it felt good to get that out of my system.'

The prank soap bar Naruto had left on his bathroom counter top all wrapped up, the one that she had used, the one that gave her what she called a… 'penor' it had worn off after two very long weeks. During that time she was trying to wash herself as often as possible to make the prank hopefully wear off faster. What better way to motivate yourself to have a shower, then to get sweaty from an intense training session?

Naruto was scheming that gender changing bar of soap that he had made. It got him thinking about all the stares he suddenly attracted from older men, of all ages, just because he had been a girl. It had given Naruto an idea. While Kagome had been going out at night, doing something that she told him was 'relaxing'. He was going to find a way to transform himself into a girl whenever he wanted to. He was in the midst of perfecting the technique. He stayed up late last night trying to get everything working the way he wanted to, so he was a rather tired.

"Oi, Nee-san…. Neeeeee-san are you sleeping again? This is like the-the, I don't know the like thirteenth day in a row! Neeee-san are you sleeeeeeeeeping?" Naruto asked whispering in her ear, while he poked and prodded Kagome in her right side. Her head was turned away from him and she hadn't moved from that spot. He had watched as she dragged herself into the classroom this morning, looking half dead with dark circles under her eyes and her limbs flopped around all limp from her 'relaxing'. Once she had gotten to their table she managed to slide into the isle, take out some paper out from her bag before resting on top of the pile, not moving from that spot, like all the previous days before this one. Usually towards the end of the class, when the bell was about to ring announcing that everyone could go home, she was almost back to her usual self, but prior to that time, she acted like she was dead.

"Unmfgh." Kagome grunted rather un-lady like smacking Naruto's hand away, before she moved back into her previous position. She had stayed out too late yesterday night training again; she really needed to keep an eye on the placement of the moon. Her whole body was aching and cried out in protest whenever she moved, accidental or not. She had forgotten that Miroku had increased the weights on her legs by another four and the weights on her arms another two and a half pounds. It was a consistent every three weeks that more weight was added on. Around three weeks because that's when the ofuda infused with energy usually wore off. Of course it could always be removed by rubbing the spot with reiki but that seemed like too much work to only make your life harder, faster by adding on more weight.

It wasn't just Kagome adding more pounds onto the weights on her arms and legs though. Miroku and Sango were doing the same thing to their weights also. She wasn't certain how much they were carrying around on their arms and legs. However Kagome knew that hers were probably heavier than theirs. Since she had started way ahead of them. If she recalled correctly, it was actually the very first day that she was brought to Kaede's hut. From that day forward more and more weight would slowly be added on. Finally resulting in impressive two hundred and eight pounds on her legs and one hundred and thirty two point five pounds on her arms.

"KA-GO-ME PAY ATTENTION TO THIS LESSON! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU, THAT IT'S VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU KNOW THIS MATERIAL!" Iruka found himself yelling again. He was going to lose his voice sooner than later. Wondering to himself as he looked at the girl hunched over her table with the side of her face resting on sheets of paper. He wanted to know what was she doing that was making her so tired that she slept though all of his lessons for the last two weeks. It wasn't because he was b-boring….was it?

She shot up sitting straight in her seat while a piece of paper stuck to the right side of her face. Kagome rubbed her eyes and yawned cutely, groaning in her head when she looked at the board and noticed that Iruka was still teaching material that involved intense mathematical knowledge, skill and application. She just didn't have any aptitude for math it was her worse subject hands down. She hated it and it hated her back. Slouching down in her seat again she tried to get comfortable and toppled over to the side her head hitting Naruto's soft lap. She smiled curling up into a ball using Naruto's lap as a pillow.

"Ara?...." Naruto looked down at his lap and yawned when he saw Kagome snoozing away he decided to follow her example and put his head into his arms. Soon Naruto found himself being praised by all the villagers because he was the Hokage of Konoha. He was wearing the old man's robes and rubbing his title in Sasuke's face. Sasuke was his personal slave he made Sasuke wear a maid's outfit and told him to clean scrub everyone's toilets spotless, with nothing a toothbrush……which had all of the bristles removed.

"Would someone tell me the answer to this question? Come on guys this is such simple question, what is the answer to this question….Kagome?....KA-GO-ME HI-GU-RA-SHI?! WHERE DID SHE GO? DID ANYBODY SEE HER LEAVE THE CLASSROOM? NA-RU-TO?!" Iruka looked up from the book he was copying questions from to see that Kagome's seat was empty, but all of her stuff was still there. Naruto's head was also down and drool was sliding down the side of his face, the boy was clearly sleeping. He stormed right up to the table, noticing Kagome sleeping on Naruto's lap and picked them up by the scruffs of their shirts and carried them out of class. "GO HOME AND SLEEP! Come back tomorrow refreshed. I hope you've been copying down all the homework I've been assigning over the last two weeks. Otherwise all the work will be all piled up. Like I told the entire class, at the end of the week I'm expecting it all to be completed and handed into me. No exceptions at all! Now don't say that I didn't tell you because I know I did! Now both of you go home and get some rest!"

"Juri-chan, how can a girl like _that _think she can steal Sasuke-kun away from us? Sasuke clearly likes smart intelligent girls, one who will be able to understand what he is talking about all the time. Someone he can actually have a conversation with. Poor out his heart and soul to!" Sakura whispered sliding close to one of the members from the fan club.

"Who knows, but she's not a member of our club and never will be! So that means she can never have him because only a true Sasuke-kun fan girl will get his heart and….his _love_!" Juri could help but let a small squeal out when she looked over in Sasuke's direction, imagining herself in an expensive wedding dress walking down the aisle and Sasuke reciting his declaration of love for her.

"You don't have to worry about Kagome-kun taking your precious 'Sasuke-kun' away from you," Tomoki whispered to the girls overhearing their conversation. "Only one of the boys from our club can date her!"

"Tomoki! You're such an eavesdropper! Stop listening in on us when we're discussing potential threats to the Sasuke-kun club," Ino hissed leaning back and hitting Tomoki on the head, making him turn around. "Have you guys thought up of _anything_ we can do to get back at Higurashi. It's been almost a month since she embarrassed us in front of Sasuke-kun. We need to make sure she knows that she messed around with the wrong people! What really bothers me that she addresses Sasuke-kun without any honorifics, as if she knows him so well!"

"How dare Higurashi pretend to know our Sasuke-kun so well! It's not like she grew up with him or anything. Sasuke-kun is probably being the nice guy, that he is, by not telling her off!" Juri added her face was turning red from anger.

"I just got an idea!" Sakura said her eyes darting around to make sure no one was listening in on their conversation. She leaned in closer and gestured for the other two girls to do the same. "You know those math assignments Iruka-sensei has been assigning to us?"

"The one we have to hand in at the end of this week? All the questions are so difficult, not only that but they also take so much time that I could be spending watching Sasuke-kun," Ino whispered back. "What about it?"

"I'll tell you after class, Iruka-sensei is making his way over here to see if we're doing our work. I don't want him to yell at me, he's probably in a bad mood. All because of that Higurashi and that annoying Naruto kid." Sakura quickly whispered moving back into her spot and writing down the homework.

* * *

What's your least favorite subject and why?

Best review for the last chapter: homicidalPEACH


	10. Make Her Cry

Pages: 11

Words: 5, 473

Chapter Ten: Make Her Cry

* * *

"Alright Sakura so what is your magnificent idea that you have?" Ino asked walking beside Sakura, while the other club members trailed behind them.

"Well yesterday I overheard Iruka-sensei talking to the Sandaime. It was about Higurashi because the Sandaime wanted to know how she was doing at the academy and if there were any concerns. It's probably because she's new and all. Since it's his duty as the Hokage to make sure everyone, even if its Higurashi is doing okay- anyways, I overheard them talking. Iruka-sensei said that despite for the last two weeks of her sleeping through his lessons and talking during class to Naruto, that her marks were overall really good. She ranks fifth out of the entire class! That's all I had time to hear because I didn't want to get caught listening to the Sandaime's conversation because then I could get into trouble-"

"I don't get how that stupid story will help us get Higurashi back!" One of the club members whined, which in turn made the other club members start complaining about getting Higurashi back for what she had done, how they didn't get Sakura's story and what it had to do with her so called idea.

"ALL OF YOU BE QUITE let Sakura-chan speak! She can't explain how her story relates to her idea if you keep talking over her," Ino yelled turning back to Sakura once she had successfully shut the other members up, they were so annoying to be around sometimes. "Okay, go ahead."

"So my idea- what I was thinking was, since Kagome ranks fifth in our class she must be doing all the work Iruka assigns. Which means- that she's going to do all that math homework Iruka-sensei has been assigning to us and hand in her completed package. A package that she would have spent a lot of hours doing, at the end of this week! Right?" Sakura asked turning around to look at all the other club members who were talking among themselves.

"I really hope you're going somewhere with this Sakura-chan," Juni said rolling her eyes. Ino and Sakura acted like they were the leaders of the Sasuke fan club. It was starting to get really irritating. "Sure, whatever, okay, big deal she hands in that math package, so what?"

"She's not going to be handing in that math package if everything goes our way. The only reason she's ranking fifth in class because she wants Sasuke-kun to notice her! Since he is in first place, because he's so smart! We can't let that happen because he belongs to us. So girls we're going to sabotage Higurashi's completed math package!" Sakura finally announced trying to gauge the reactions of the other girls whose faces seemed to brighten at the idea.

"How dare she try and steal Sasuke-kun! We should destroy her math package!"

"Let's do it! Her grades will plummet; if she gets a zero on it and she won't be fifth place in class anymore either, leaving her no chance at all in getting noticed by Sasuke-kun!"

"Just how are we going to sabotage her math package Sakura-chan?" Ino asked thinking that this idea might just actually work.

"Etto…" Sakura cursed in her head she hadn't thought though the entire plan, she'd have to make up something quick because everyone's attention was now on her, "Everyone is going to take their assignments out first thing when they get to class, because everyone knows Iruka-sensei likes to collect assignments right away. So once Higurashi takes out her assignment….I could- distract Naruto! By- by…bringing him outside the classroom and then- another one of you guys-"

"-another one of us can distract Higurashi by saying Naruto needs her help-" Another girl filled in grinning evilly, she was liking this plan.

"-then other members from our club can distract the class!-"

"-And then one of us will go over to where Higurashi sits and tear her assignment up into shreads!-"

"-She'll get what's coming to her! We'll leave her a note telling her to stay away from Sasuke-kun and then we'll watch what she does when Iruka-sensei goes to collect her assignment and finds out that she doesn't have it!" Ino finished off the plan getting cheers from the other girls who clearly wanted to put their plan into immediate action. "Okay so Sakura's going to distract Naruto, I'll distract Tomoki. Who wants to be the people who will distract the entire class? And who is going to be the one who tears up Higurashi's paper?"

"Oh! Oh! We can distract the class!"

"Pick us!"

"I want to distract the class also!"

"Me too!"

"Hey no fair guys, I want to do it too!"

"ALL of you can get the class's attention the more distraction the better," Then Ino's brows furrowed. "But who is going to be the person who tears the paper up and leaves a note?"

"I'll do it Ino! I want to make her cry," Juni happily offered with a grin she didn't like Kagome one bit. Everything about the girl rubbed her, the wrong way all her face, eyes, hair, actions, words….everything. "But I think one of us should drop the note off, the period after I have torn up the paper. Otherwise she could just show it to Iruka-sensei and we might get blamed."

"That's fine Juni-chan, we wouldn't want that to happen. One of us will drop off the note off a period later." Ino agreed, really liking how well the plan was thought through.

"On the note we'll tell her not to show Iruka-sensei otherwise worse things will happen to her! Alright minna [everyone] so you have three days to come up with many distractions as possible! We have to make sure that Sasuke-kun isn't stolen away from one of us!" Sakura yelled happily thinking to herself, 'Higurashi won't know what hit her with all the club members working together there was no way our plan is going to fail.'

* * *

"Nee-san! NEE-SAN! Kagome nee-san, are you there?! Please tell me that you're home today!" Naruto yelled banging on her apartment door with both his fists. Standing outside with a look of pure horror on his face, he had even started to perspire.

"Naruto-kun please refrain yourself from breaking our door down, what brings you here?" Miroku asked opening the door to be pushed to the side by Naruto who ran in dropping sheets of lined paper when he did. He was too preoccupied that he didn't even notice Miroku's new hair color.

"Naru-kun?" Kagome asked looking rather confused when he dropped the paper to the table with his hands together, making it look like he was praying to Kami.

"Please don't yell at me! But I kind of- sort of left that math assignment Iruka-sensei assigned to the last minute! I need you to help me so I can hand something into him!" Naruto said rapidly bowing his head down his hands held high above his head in prayer mode.

"Did my ears just deceive me or did Naruto-kun just ask Kagome to help him with his math homework? The same homework assignment you are forcing her to stay here and complete?" Miroku asked Sango who was sitting in their small living room with a giant purple bucket, a small red bucket full of water, four small cardboard boxes, one big cardboard box, her tools and her pile of cleaned demon bones beside her. All most of the bones were given to her by Kagome who was attack by youkai.

"Iie, Naruto-kun asked Kagome to help him with his math." Sango said carefully shaving parts of a youkai bone she was holding. Using her set of beautiful wood carving tools Miroku and Kagome had purchased for her on her eleventh birthday. The shavings were caught by the bucket. Sango held up another completed youkai bone Kunai and after comparing it to another youkai bone Kunai she started to file away the rough edges around the handle and made the tip of the Kunai, flesh cutting sharp- to the touch.

"He's doomed." Miroku and Sango said simultaneously, both peeking around the corner to glance at their table where Kagome was doing a horrible job trying to explain the math to Naruto. Who was sitting there nodding his head like an idiot after every word she said.

"So are you going to polish those Kunai and Shuriken for me like you promised you would, or just stand there?" Sango asked happy with the filing job then she reached into a plastic bag and pulled out a long light blue piece of fabric and wrapped it around the handle of the finished Kunai. Which had been carved straight from in her opinion the best material in the world, it was strong, lasted long and the youkai bone didn't cost her anything. She carefully placed it into the giant box of unfinished and not ready to use youkai bone weapons.

"I'm helping, I'm helping. Sheesh and this is the thanks I get for offering my services to you." Miroku said opening the jar of polish and using a rag Sango had given him to polish all of her finished youkai bone Kunai and Shuriken. He reached into the giant box and brought out a handful of Kunai and carefully polished each and everyone making sure he didn't miss a spot. There were three colors on the handles of the Kunai. Blue for Kagome, Red for Sango and Purple for Miroku. Once he was done he placed them into their appropriate box.

Sango had been working on all filling up the boxes for the last two years. In her experience shuriken were faster to make then a Kunai. In the amount of time it took Sango to complete one already polished Kunai ready to use, she could have easily made twenty shuriken. Carving out weapons from youkai bones was another way that Sango was able to relieve her stress and anger. It reminded her of all the good times she had spending time with her family when they were alive.

"So Nee-san I think I understand now, I take this number, which is the weight of the weapon and then I get the height the tree and the man times by that number, here, then divide this number over here, by that number over there?" Naruto said pointing to the diagram of a cartoon shinobi in a tree tossing a senbon needle into his victim.

"…Hai?" Kagome said looking up from doodling on the sheets of paper she was supposed to be using for her math assignment. She didn't understand any of it, but Sango wouldn't let her leave the table until she was done. When Sango heard that there was a Hyuuga, in her class she refused to let Kagome go anywhere or do anything until all of her work was done. It was because Sango had failed to beat Neji by two percent, Kagome supposed Sango felt that she could have her victory if she (Kagome) got a higher mark than the Hyuuga that was in her class.

"Alright arigato [thanks] Nee-san you're a real life saver, at least Iruka-sensei won't yell at me now for not doing some of the work!" Naruto said as he scribbled down what he thought was the right answer onto his sheet before moving onto the next question.

"Un…" Kagome didn't have the heart to tell Naruto that all of his answers would probably end up being wrong. She just couldn't do math she refused to, when Miroku and Sango both offered to teach her they ended up just leaving her at the table going off to vent their frustration at her incapability to learn/do math. Heaving a heavy sigh she turned to a new page and started on another drawing, all these sheets of papers except the first one, where Miroku and Sango had done the questions for her, when they failed to teach her what to do. Maybe Iruka-sensei would like her drawings and mark them instead. Her favorite one was supposed to be Iruka as a goat soaring through the air to kick his chalkboard.

"Nee-san can you help me with this question? It asks if a shinobi is ambushed by two enemy shinobi and they throw rope around him-"

* * *

A big 'F' that's what Kagome knew she was going to get on this assignment after she had pulled it out of her bag and placed it out in front of her. Sango was probably going to yell at her making a ridiculous speech about her hate for Hyuuga, Neji. Miroku would probably run away knowing that Sango was going to give Kagome a speech. She looked sullenly to the right of her maybe Naruto would be able to cheer her up. His seat was empty, she pouted maybe he forgot to wake up this morning because he stayed at her place really late last night trying to complete the assignment.

"Sasuke did you finish the assignment?" Kagome asked the boy sitting behind her.

"Of course, it was easy," Sasuke replied as she looked at him over her shoulder. He was being careful of using 'Hn' around Kagome. He didn't want his face being tugged about again. "Did you?"

"Ha ha, un…" Kagome said nervously laugh as she looked at the package with distaste. She wrote her name at the top and sighed, maybe she should just give herself an 'F' that way she could save Iruka-sensei some time by doing it ahead of time. She chewed on her lip, but then he couldn't get to see all the pictures she had drawn! Her attention was suddenly turned to the girl at the door yelling her name.

"Hey Kagome-chan! Naruto-kun needs your help. He got his foot stuck in a hole and can't get out of it." That was signal. Once she left with Higurashi the other girls will distract everyone else so that Juri could tear up the assignment, before Iruka-sensei came in. They had a good seven minute window, which was plenty of time. And if Iruka-sensei came along trying to get into the classroom before them, one of them would stop him, by pretending that she had hurt herself.

"Mou, Naru-kun!" Kagome slid out of her seat and leapt landing soundlessly in front of the door. "Where is he?"

"Kagome-chan! Naruto-kun has his foot stuck in a hole!" Sakura yelled running into the classroom. She had dug a deep hole outside and covered it with leaves. Then before Naruto went into class she had asked him if he wanted to take a walk with her. Then led him to the hole and held him down pretending that she was trying to help him out. Once she was sure he was stuck she gave the signal to a girl who was waiting to play her part.

"Wakatta [I got it] so where is he?" Kagome followed the two girls out of the classroom as they led her to where they had left Naruto.

"Oi Tomoki-kun, I just wanted to tell you that I was sorry for hitting you over the head a couple of days ago. It's just that our club was having a secret discussion. You know how club meetings are. So why'd you create the Kagome-kun fan club?" Ino asked pretending to be interested after waiting one minute after the girl's where gone to slide over to distract Tomoki, whose eyes instantly lit up when she mentioned Kagome's name to him. It was rather annoying. Then again- she acted like this when it came to Sasuke…didn't she?

When Ino started talking to Tomoki that was the other girl's signal they two girls started opening and closing Iruka-sensei's drawers. While another girl banged loudly on top of his table. Other girls sung horrendously at the top of their lungs, while others ran around the class. Juri made sure no eyes were on her as she crawled on her hands and knees. Sneakily making her way over to Kagome's table she hid underneath it, holding her breath when she had heard Sasuke move. He immediately turned around in his seat when someone ran behind his desk. Reaching up with one of her hands Juri felt around on the table before grabbing Higurashi's package.

'Just as Sakura-chan had thought, she IS trying to steal Sasuke-kun away from us!' Juri thought looking at the pristine fully completed first page grinning evilly as she tore it to itty bitty shreds before dropping the pile of shredded paper back on Kagome's desk. She quickly retreated back to her seat, grinning madly as she let the other girl's know the deed was done. "GUYS! Be quite! You don't want sensei to yell at us for being so noisy!" The rest of the girl's grinned instantly quieting down, going back to their seats. They were able to complete their task a lot quicker than they thought they would.

"Iruka-sensei I don't know why there was a hole there! If I did I wouldn't have stepped in one on purpose!" Naruto's angry yells could be heard outside the door.

"Hai, hai I believe you Naruto-kun, just make sure you look where you walk from now on. You were stuck in their pretty good, you're lucky your classmates came outside to help you," Iruka said entering his surprisingly quiet class. "Alright you guys I'm coming around to collect your assignments make sure you have them out. I'm starting at the very back of the class today."

"Nee-san what's with the pile of paper on our desk?" Naruto asked pointing it out to her when he slid into the isle.

"Alright Naruto-kun and Kagome-chan, hand in your assignments!" Iruka said holding onto his clipboard with one hand and he stuck his other hand out- ready to collect their assignments from them.

"Etto…I think mine was ripped to pieces." Kagome said looking at the pile of shreds.

"Why would someone tear your assignment up? Iruka-sensei it's not fair! Nee-san stayed up late yesterday helping me complete this assignment for you! Hers was already done too! You can't give her a zero! You can even check to see that on every sheet there is at least one question answered on it I tried my hardest to complete it all!" Naruto protest pulling out his crinkled, slightly wet, yet almost completed assignment. He handed it in to Iruka with big puppy dog eyes.

"Fine," Iruka said sighing quickly flipping though the booklet his eyes widen with amazement. Naruto really had tried to do all of the questions. He did something that he thought he'd never do. Next to Naruto's name he put checkmark, for handed in homework. "I'll give you an extension on this assignment Kagome-chan, does that sound fair?"

"Iie! I worked really hard on that assignment for you it doesn't matter now…" Kagome said was sad all of her fabulous drawings were all gone. She really didn't want to be forced to stay inside by Sango again so that she could complete this assignment. Which she couldn't do in the first place, it wasn't her fault that she just couldn't do math.

"Iruka-sensei I don't think that's fair for Kagome-kun. It probably took her hours to complete the entire thing! I know that it took me a long time." Tomoki piped up from the other side of the class.

"Why should Kagome-kun be forced to re-do the assignment for you when someone in this class is clearly trying to ruin her reputation!" A member of the Kagome-kun club quickly said following the president of their club's example. It was their duty to protect Kagome-kun's honor!

"You should just give her an A plus because that's what she probably would have gotten anyway! It's not fair that she has to redo the whole thing."

"Give Kagome-kun an A plus!" Tomoki said motioning to the other members to follow his example.

The boys of the Kagome-kun club were now chanting 'Give Kagome-kun an A plus over and over again slowly getting louder and louder as they tried to convince Iruka-sensei that Kagome deserved a good grade and shouldn't be forced to redo it again. That's when Kagome got an idea. Maybe she could be saved from Sango's speech. Mustering up the saddest voice she could, remembering her days when she was younger and saved Naruto from getting caught. She said, "It's alright Iruka-sensei I guess you can have fun trying to piece the papers back together…I worked my hardest on this assignment. I don't know what I did to hurt somebody's feelings in the class. But for someone to feel the need to do this……."

"Irkua-sensei I think you should just give Kagome at least a good mark. I saw her working really hard on your assignment for you!" Naruto whined poking the tattered remains of Kagome's assignment.

"BOYS BE QUITE! Stop repeating the same thing over I heard you the first time you said it!" Iruka whirled around to face Kagome who looked around on the verge of bursting out into tears. He ran his hand down his face sighing caving into all the pressure. "ALRIGHT! But I'm only going to give you a B plus, does anyone have any objections? Iie, good alright so that's the mark you're getting Kagome-kun and that's final! Go throw that pile out in the garbage. IF I ever find out who did it. You're going to be in big trouble!"

'NANI!? How did that just happen? How could our plan fail? It was the stupid Higurashi girl's fault!' Every fan girl member roared in their heads once they heard Iruka-sensei saying that she would be getting a B plus on the assignment that she didn't even hand into him!

'Awesome!' Kagome chirped happily in her head, she couldn't believe her luck! If she ever found the person who tore up her assignment she was going to have to thank them. Whoever it was had no idea they had just saved her! She was in such a good mood now.

"Who do you think would tear your assignment up? Ara….Why are you smiling aren't you sad?" Naruto asked Kagome who had the biggest smile on her face he had ever seen.

"I'll tell you later Naru-kun!"

"Sometimes I don't understand you. I think you're weirder than I am Nee-san!" Naruto said quite loudly throwing his hands into the air with a cheesy grin on his face.

"Nee-san, Nee-san," Sakura chanted copying Naruto's voice. She was really peeved that her plan had fallen apart at the very last minute. It was mainly Naruto's fault because if he hadn't opened his big mouth, Tomoki and the other guys wouldn't have forced Irkua to give that girl a passing mark Sakura gritted her teeth together. "Naruto why do you even call her that? You met her for the first time a couple of months ago! She's not even related to you because you're just an orphan?! Omae urusai yarou dana! [It's so annoying!]"

The whole class had gone silent from Sakura's outburst. They hadn't really heard her yell before other than 'Sasuke-kun' but this was different. Iruka had even stopped collecting the other students' assignments to look at Sakura in shock. He called out the girl's name harshly, "Sakura-chan! It's rude to pry into other peoples' lives I want you to apologize immediate-"

"It's okay Iruka-sensei," Naruto said cutting Iruka-sensei off with his tone of voice which came out in a much more relaxed, depressing sort of way. No one in the class, except Kagome, had ever heard him use before. "Sakura-chan you shouldn't just assume things or act like you're a know it all. You may be one when it comes to textbooks and school but don't ever pretend to know everything when it concerns my life. You know nothing at all! I'll always see Kagome as my Nee-san even if she's younger than me! She was the first person to ever treat me nicely when I was a kid and she even became my first ever friend! You try living your childhood without the loving care from your parents, never receiving any love, affection, praise or attention. Then imagine yourself playing in a park all by yourself because parents grabbed their children away from you, calling you hurtful names! I'll see if you don't become emotionally attached to a person who doesn't care about all those things and promises that they'll always be your friend no matter what happens! So what if Nee-san and I fight sometimes or Sango and Miroku have crazy yelling matches that don't make sense and end up dragging me into their argument? I imagine that's what all siblings act like, and- and I CHERISH EVERY SINGLE MOMENT OF IT, _NEVER_ TAKING IT FOR GRANTED!"

Everyone watched as Naruto ran out of the room after choking up his childhood story to the entire class. They then turned around to look at Sakura who sat there looking shocked. Her face slowly turned red from embarrassment. Sinking down in her seat she looked desperately into Sasuke's eyes, surely at least he would be happy with her when he heard about the loser's stupid fake sob story. When her green eyes connected with his obsidian ones they narrowed at her before looking away…..she couldn't believe it……Sasuke-kun…had…just….glared….AT HER! This was all Higurashi's fault! None of this mess was her (Sakura's) fault. It couldn't be. Everything was fine before Higurashi came along and started talking to Sasuke-kun like she was good friends with him.

'I have no parents either like Naruto and Kagome…..the way that Sakura girl said orphan, saying it in such a derogatory way. Making it sound like all orphans were the scum on the bottom of the earth! She's nothing more than a selfish brat who is too spoiled by her parents. That she could never begin to fathom how hard life could be, growing up without them.' Sasuke thought glaring into the dense girl's eyes turning away before doing something that would get him in trouble with the Hokage, like setting her body on fire. He clenched his fist together looking down at Kagome so see what her reaction was. After all she was that dobe's [dead last's] friend. She was just sitting there with her eyes closed looking relaxed, a small smile lingering on her face. 'Kagome's always been strange. That was probably one of the first things I noticed when we played together as children….when my Kaa-san and Chichi-ue were still around.'

"Kagome-kun, aren't you going to chase after Naruto? I give you my permission to." Iruka asked stunned from the boy's outbreak. He had heard of Naruto-kun's childhood from the Sandaime but he had never expected to hear how lonely the boy really felt from Naruto himself. Iruka also knew why the villagers snatched their children away from Naruto and called him names. It pained Iruka on the inside greatly because he too knew how it felt….the loneliness Naruto talked about. He was sure both Kagome and Sasuke felt it too. That's why he was stricter around things concerning Naruto; he tried to act as a substitute older brother figure to him.

"Iie, gomen sensei. [No, sorry teacher.]" Kagome's reply stunned everyone further.

"W-why not?!" Iruka's voice cracked he couldn't even yell. He was so shocked he had to sit down before he passed out. His poor heart could take more he was utterly confused by the girl's response. He thought Naruto and her were friends.

"Naru-kun is a big boy! He can take care of himself! You shouldn't worry yourself too much about him Iruka-sensei. He'll come back tomorrow acting like none of this ever happened," Kagome said smiling then she looked thoughtful for a moment before grinning with a gleam in her eye. "Hey sensei do you think I could have the rest of day off?"

"….Sure go right ahead Kagome-kun make sure not slam the door when you lea- HEY! KAGOME-KUN GET BACK HERE! YOU GAKI YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE! GET BACK HERE!" Iruka yelled running out the door chasing after the giggling girl who evaded all of his attempts to grab her.

It turned out Kagome was right. The very next day Naruto was back in class acting the way he normally did, slightly more obnoxious if that was even possible. "Nee-san, how could you forget to pack me a lunch? You're a horrible Nee-san you know that I love your cooking!"

"That's because Naru-kun I distinctly remember you yesterday insulting my cooking when you came over for dinner uninvited! Since there were leftovers I just packed it into this bento box for myself." Kagome replied using her chopstick to dig into the vegetables and rice.

"Nani?! You cooked that?! I thought Miroku had," Naruto whined, he knew Kagome was just joking when she said he was uninvited, he was always allowed in her apartment. As long as he didn't break anything or snoop around their stuff, which he would never do! Or accidentally pee in Sango's bed again….but- that was a onetime thing! He was staying over at their place when Miroku's and Sango's sensei wanted them to practice camping in a forest, in one of Konoha's forests for a week as a part of their training. So Naruto came over to sleepover and one of the nights Kagome challenged him to a drinking water contest, to see who would hold their pee in the longest. Then when he was sleeping she put her hand in a bowl of warm water and he had wet himself….Kagome had won the contest and Sango had made him wash all of her bedding including her mattress which she believed to be unsanitary and tainted with Naruto's urine."I'm hungry…"

"Mou! Here you can have the rest of it. I'd never let you starve if I could help it Naru-kun. You need your strength for after lunch Iruka is going to be testing us on your favorite technique!" Was Kagome's response to Naruto as she offered the food to Naruto who grabbed her chopsticks and eagerly polished the rest of the food off in two giant bites.

'I wish Kagome made me a bento box…' Sasuke thought with a frown on his face, he looked at the bento he had made himself. The plain onigiri [rice balls] wrapped in nori [seaweed] didn't seem so appetizing anymore when he thought about Kagome's cooking. He stopped himself and grunted as he watched Kagome tell Naruto that she wouldn't let him starve. Then she gave the rest of the bento, which she had made, to him- Naruto to eat. When Sasuke realized just what he had been thinking about he wanted to snort. He was almost acting as dumb, craving for care and attention as Naruto constantly did. He wasn't about to become the next dobe.

"Ara?!" Naruto almost choked on the mouthful of rice he had to hit his chest, in order for him to keep himself from choking on it and so that he could swallow it all. "Don't tell me he's testing us on the Bunshin no Jutsu!He's not really testing us on the Bunshin no Jutsu....is he?!"

"He is, dobe and soon he'll be testing us on our cloning technique, to prepare for the graduation exam." Sasuke said to Naruto feeling rather irked when he saw the completely empty bento box that the dobe had gotten to eat.

"IIE! I'm going to get out of here while I can. I'll see you later Nee-san!" Naruto quickly gathered all of his things running out the door as fast as he could.

"NARUTO-KUN WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!" Iruka's angry yell could be heard.

"Ano..... I AM GOING TO- HAVE EXPLOSIVE DIARRHOEA SENSEI. THAT MEANS I HAVE TO GO HOME. OTHERWISE I'LL EXPLODE EVERYWHERE!"

"Mou that was a lame response especially for Naru-kun." Kagome commented shaking her head in disappointment.

"I agree." Sasuke said his eyebrow twitching.

"Sasuke we're going to hang out tomorrow night okay? There's no use arguing, make sure you have actual food in your fridge this time." Kagome said. Naruto kept on distracting her from spending some time with Sasuke. Since there seemed to be obvious resentment on Naruto's part to Sasuke, she rarely had time to converse with the quiet Uchiha when Naruto was around.

"Wakatta. [Got it.]" Sasuke let a smirk grace his lips before Kagome turned back around in her seat, he really couldn't wait. Just thinking about the possible dishes she could make for him was making his mouth water her food was almost as good as his Kaa-san's. He sighed, the way he was acting lately, really wasn't healthy. 'I need to do some more training so I don't lose sight of my goal.'

* * *

What's the worst thing you've done?

Best review for the last chapter: LOL-LIVElikeurOUTofLOLLIPOPS


	11. Class Assignment

Pages: 12

Words: 5, 820

Chapter Eleven: Class Assignment

* * *

"We have to do something about that girl- Higurashi! I saw her turn around and talk to Sasuke-kun again. This time it was during lunchtime." Sakura said bringing up the issue with the other club members. She was so engrossed in getting Higurashi back for making her Sasuke-kun glare at her. A small part of her knew it was childish of her but the majority wanted revenge.

"I saw them talking too. I thought he did it so he could insult Naruto-kun." Ino said looking around for any of the other members' opinion. Despite what she had just said she had gained a slight respect for Naruto. His story had really had tugged on her heart strings. She would have never known he had such a hard childhood the way he acted around everyone.

"That's not important Ino-chan," Juri intercepted. "I think we need should have our scouts find out where Higurashi is right now. Then all of us should go pay her a nice visit. That way we can make it crystal clear to her that she needs to stop trying to have a conversation with Sasuke-kun and stay away from him because he's ours."

"I agree with Juri-chan's plan!" Sakura yelled pumping her fist into the air.

"Alright, so now we need to carefully pick the scouts. Remember you're doing this for Sasuke-kun!" Juri stated looking around at all the hands that instantly rose for the sneaky spy job.

'Why do I have this feeling that this isn't going the way they want it to?' Ino wondered deciding that she would go through with this plan, but if it failed she wasn't going to join any future plans which targeted the Higurashi girl. By no means did this mean that she liked the girl. It was just that she'd rather spend her time and energy on Sasuke.

"Those who are assigned to find Higurashi make sure you don't let her out of your site and are not seen. Then report back to us!" Sakura said with a grin on her face.

* * *

"Nee-san, soooo what exactly are you doing again?" Naruto asked his head tilted all the way to one side. His arms in his sleeves and his legs crossed with a dumb expression on his face as he watched her just sit there.

"Trying to meditate but it's hard when someone keeps trying to have a conversation with you. Naru-kun why don't you give it a try? All you have to do is clear your mind, then close your eyes and relax." Kagome said with her eyes still shut slowly slowing her breathing down as she relaxed, why were there five girls, two of which were from their class, in a tree watching them?

"Naruhodo [I see] like this?" Naruto had forced his eyes shut as he sat on the ground. He managed to do it for three minutes before his body twitched madly making him jump off of the ground. "I don't understand why you consider this training! It just looks like you're sleeping! I'm going to go to something much more fun than this. I'll see you later."

She didn't find the need to respond to Naruto, despite being watched by the girls she was still able to summon her reiki to flow through her entire body. She switched back to summoning her chakra going back and forth between the two. Kagome made sure she was able to tell which one she was using and when. A frown appeared on her face when she sensed a sharp aura, shrugging it off when she recognized it. Kicking out her legs she got out of her meditation position when Kirara came happily trotting along and jumped onto her thigh. The neko was holding two shiny bells in her mouth. Purring loudly as she rubbed Kagome's hand with her head.

"Rrew." Kirara wanted to play with them they chimed the most pleasant sound ever. They just made her want to paw at them!

"You want to play with these do you?" Kagome said with a laugh, rolling onto her stomach after taking the bells from the neko's mouth. Holding a bell in each of her hands Kagome waved them around in front of Kirara's face. Kagome laughed when the neko sat on her hind legs and a small black and beige paw reached up to give the bell a good smack. Kirara repeating the same adorable motion in regards to the other bell.

By the time Kagome had decided it was probably time to head back, there were now only three girls still there in the same tree. She ignored them, supposing that they wanted to use the clearing to do something and but they had been waiting for her all this time to leave. Kirara had jumped onto her shoulder, when Kagome had gotten off the ground. "Have Sango and Miroku come back from their second time ever, out of the village mission? The one Sango had been waiting a long time for."

She received a head nod as she left the clearing and was now on the forest pathway. She just couldn't understand why the girls still following her. It was getting annoying, especially their very loud whispers back and forth to each other that could wake the dead. Her situation got even stranger when Kagome sensed more girls; some of them were from her class. They were now making their way over in her direction.

"Higurashi! Just what do you think you're doing?" Sakura asked pointing her finger at Kagome, as if Sakura had caught her stealing a cookie from the cookie jar.

"Well, what does it look like I'm doing? I'm walking home, is that a crime Sakura-chan?" She asked a question back in the sweetest voice she could muster up, wanting to annoy the girl. Kagome felt indifferent about the pink headed girl.

"Iie, baka she's talking about what do you think you're thinking when you're talking to our Sasuke-kun?" Juri hissed angrily as the girls from the club surrounded Kagome in a giant circle. They successfully trapped her. Now they would be able to teach her a lesson.

"Wakaranai [I don't know] I suppose I'm thinking that I'm having a conversation with him."

"Well you shouldn't think that!" Sakura yelled she was going to get Higurashi back for making Sasuke glare at her that other time.

"Okay, I won't think that. Now if you're done asking your pointless questions I'd like to go home and eat." Kagome said rubbing her grumbling belly. She really didn't understand the whole point of surrounding her like they were a pack of wolves and she was their poor defenceless prey...unless....UNLESS these girls were trying to eat her!

"We can't let you do that." A girl Kagome had never seen before said to her they all moved in a little closer making the circle too small for Kagome's comfort.

"Why not? I swear I don't taste good! I'll probably be hard to cook and then you'll have to fight over my crispy body. Save yourselves the trouble and eat at Ichiraku's they have the best ramen you will ever taste I promise! It will fill your stomachs up." She pleaded to them hoping that they had heard her.

"Baka! We're not going to eat you. We just want to tell you to stay away from Sasuke-kun stop talking to him. Stop trying to talk with him. Just stop doing anything that pertains to Sasuke-kun." Juri said moving into the center of the circle, the gap that she once stood was instantly filled in by another girl.

"Oh so all this is about Sasuke?" Kagome asked rocking from the ball of her foot to the heel of her foot.

"DON'T CALL SASUKE-KUN THAT! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT! THAT RIGHT IS RESERVED FOR HIS LOVER!" Yet another girl she did not know yelled at her.

"You're not worthy enough allowed to drop the honorific to Sasuke-kun's name none of us are privileged enough to!" Sakura stated looking at Kagome as if she was retarded.

"Honto ni? [Really?]"

"Hai, Kami! You really act like a baka! How are you ranking fifth out of the entire class?" Juri continued to yell at Kagome securitizing every inch of her body finding what she thought were imperfections and blew them up to be gigantic flaws to make Juri feel better about herself.

"I'm ranking fifth?" She was surprised, she didn't know that. 'Wait a second the heck did they know that….I can feel the hostility they have towards me but I've only played a bunch of harmless pranks on them before and they never found out who it was.'

"Anyways, are you going to stop addressing Sasuke-kun without any honorific, since it's making the members of our club really angry?" Juri asked glaring down at the shorter girl.

"Sasuke doesn't seem to care." Kagome said with a shrug. Instantly feeling like she was shrinking from the intense fires burning in all the girl's eyes.

"DIDN'T WE SAY NOT TO DO THAT? You're not allowed to refer to him without any honorifics!" Sakura yelled angrily.

"Let's ask him, since he's right over there." She pointed off in any old direction before jumping over the wall of distracted girls and running away. She accidentally dropped Kirara's bells on the ground in the process as she escaped.

"SASUKE-KUN?! Wait, I don't see him! Sasuke isn't over there- hey! Where'd she go?!"

"We'll get her eventually. We have something of hers." Juri said dangling the two silver bells evil laughter bubbling from the pit of her stomach to her mouth. The laughter was over the top, but Juri thought that it made everything more dramatic.

When Kagome got to school the next morning she found a letter addressed to her on her desk. (We have something of yours you dropped yesterday, if you want it back meet us in the clearing you were at yesterday at 6 o'clock. Don't tell sensei or bring another person with you. We still have to teach you a lesson. Otherwise you will never see these bells again.) What kind of threatening letter was- oh! Kirara's beloved bells… the neko wasn't going to be happy at all when she finds out someone has her bells.

"Nee-san what's that you have there?" Naruto asked trying to snatch what she had in her hands away from her. Only she stood on top of the table. This action kept the mysterious note out of his reach.

"This? This is just a friendly letter someone left here for me." Kagome waved it around keeping Naruto from grabbing it.

"From who? I want to read it then!" He kept trying to grab it. He knew if he reached a little further he could smack it straight out of her hands. 'Why is Nee-san so protective over it? I know! It might be some sort of love letter to her! Now I have to know what it says!'

"I don't know but you can't read it. It's one of those secret types of friendly letter! Hey-!" Kagome felt the paper torn from her fingertips when Naruto rudely whacked it out of her hands causing it to land behind them, right in Sasuke's hair. She couldn't help but laugh, his hair was so spiky at the back that it was able to hold a piece of paper!

Naruto didn't and couldn't reach for the paper because he was laughing way too hard. He started slamming his fist on the desk. Tears had appeared in the corners of his eyes. 'Sasuke-Teme looks so stupid.'

"Hn. What's this?" Sasuke yanked it out of his hair glaring at the two laughing people in front of as him he unfolded the note, hearing a bunch of girls gasping of to the side. His eyes scanned the material before he tossed it forward to Kagome. She caught it before Naruto could and shoved it into her mouth chewing it up and spitting it straight into Naruto's open hand. "What's that letter about Kagome? You haven't forgotten about tonight have you?"

'S-Sasuke-kun just called Higurashi by her first name….without any honorifics!! AND just what is Higurashi doing with our Sasuke-kun tonight?!' All the fan girls screamed in their heads thinking dirty thoughts.

"EWWW NEE-SAN! I don't want it anymore now!" Naruto waved his hand around trying to dislodge the giant slimy wad of paper stuck to his hand.

"Wakaranai [I don't know]… but I haven't forgotten about my promise that I made to you. Oi, I almost forgot to ask you. Sasuke do you want me to add any of those fancy honorifics to the end of your name?" The question puzzled Sasuke why was she asking this question now? It probably had something to do with the contents of that note- not that he cared or that it was any of his business. 'She must have been spending so much time around that numbskull. He's started to rub off on her. Especially if she doesn't remember that we've known each other since we were kids.'

"Iie, there's never been a need for you to." Sasuke said as he crossed his arms over his blue clad chest.

'NANI!!?' Every fan girl could not- no; they would not believe what they had just heard. They were all just having a very bad nightmare that they couldn't wake up from! That had to be it!

"Alright class settle do-........own…NA-RU-TO WHAT IN KAMI'S GOOD NAME DID YOU JUST THROW AT MY FACE?!" Naruto's gulped very loudly laughing nervously waving his hand back and forth as quickly as he could while he stuttered 'Iruka-sensei.'

* * *

"It's time to get those bells back. Un, I know I'm really sorry for dropping them! But you saw those girls. I know I could have fought them but that would have been a waste of my energy. Oh you're right, we here we are." Kagome had been talking to Kirara who was once again perched on her shoulder. Kagome had been right, the two tailed neko wasn't very happy about losing her two beautiful shiny bells.

"Now what's this I hear? Is it Kagome-'chan' talking to herself? Now why are you doing that Higurashi? Is it because you're a nutcase just like I thought you were?" It was an almost intimidating scene. Juri emerged from the forest with the same pack of girls from yesterday following close behind her. In an over the top fashion they all crossed their arms at the same time.

"Iie. [No.] I wasn't. Hey where's blondie?"

"She had some other matters to attend to. It's really too bad she's going to miss all the fun. Now don't try and distract me from the matter at hand. You want these things back, right?" The two bells chimed as Juri shook them. Grinning when she heard Higurashi hiss at her, it was a strange way to express anger. She had figured that these two bells had to be really important.

"Hai onegai, arigato [Yes please, thanks] for picking them up. So can I get them back now?"

"Iie! Higurashi, she's not going to just give those bells back to you. You first have to promise that you won't ever talk to Sasuke-kun again. Also you may only talk to him if he talks to you but when he does you MUST add an honorific to the end of his name!" Sakura demanded on behalf of all the club members.

"Didn't you hear what Sasuke said in class today? That there is no need for me to add any to his name." She was already tired of this game it seemed repetitive it always went 'Sasuke-kun' this 'Sasuke-kun' that, stay away, blah blah blah. She could mess with their minds right now- but she was tired from training prior to her coming to here.

"What are you think you're doing with him tonight Higurashi?"

"You shouldn't even be talking to him in class. He needs to focus so he can become the rookie of the year!"

"Sasuke-kun was just being sarcastic when he told you that. He really doesn't want you going to his house."

"I don't even know who you most of you people are. You aren't in my class so stop acting like you know what goes on. Now can I just have those two bells back so I can leave?" Kagome snapped feeling rather cranky. Her muscles were really starting to ache from the training she did earlier on in the afternoon. They throbbed with the familiar pulsing pain that only adding more weights to her arms and her legs could ever bring.

"That's too bad. I'm not going to give them back to you Higurashi. Since they seem to be soooooo important to you, not unless you promise never to go anywhere near Sasuke-kun or talk to him ever. EVEN if he talks to you, you won't talk to him back." Juri said her voice was rising as her demands becoming more ridiculous as she continued to swing the bells around. 'Maybe I should tell her not to breathe Sasuke-kun's air too.'

"Why do I have to agree to your childish demands? Sasuke is my friend and I can talk to him whenever I want to and vice versa. You want to know something, it's about Sasuke so of course you nosy ecchi da [perverts] do. Sasuke and I are childhood friends. I've known him much longer than any of you have because I used to live in this village. Then I moved away and now I'm back. So, I'll ask nicely for the bells back one more time. Onegai can I have those bells back?"

"NANI?" All the girls roared when they learned this new titbit of information. It all kind of made sense now!

"Iie! You're a liar!" Juri said furiously closing her fist around the bells. When she heard another hiss, much louder this time an ugly twisted grin was brought to her face. Then she swung the bells from side to side. "How badly do you want your bells back Higurashi?"

"Juri-chan they're not my bells. I'm not playing your boring game. I came to get those bells back for Kirara because belong to her. If I were you, I'd give them back to her- right now." Kagome said rather glaring coldly at all of the girls. Then to add to the effect she let her reiki engulf her hands like blue flames would.

'Kowai! [Scary!]' All of the girls had started backing away making up excuses like 'it's getting late so I really have to go.' They scrambled away when some of that weird energy landed in front of them.

"Do-don't try and act so tough Higurashi! Yo-you're not fooling anybody! R-right guys?....Guys all of you are baka's. You know what none of you deserve Sasuke-kun like I do! Except you Sakura-chan since you're the only one still here. Alright fine, so where is this 'Kirara' thing you are talking about. I don't see anything and you know what I think you are Higurashi?"

"Iie, nor do I care. I came here to get those bells back not to waste my time talking to you."

"You're just a FREAKSHOW! But you don't know when to keep to yourself! Everything was going fine until you came along." Juri yelled out running up and slapping Kagome across the face. Then she furiously threw the bells on the ground and stomped them into oblivion. Juri's father was making her move to another village in a weeks' time. Her mother was never there for her and her parents loved her older brother more than her! All Juri had ever wanted was for Sasuke to pay a little attention to her but Kagome had found a way to take that all away from her.

"Juri-chan! You've gone too far! Stop it! You're just the one who is being a baka now!" Sakura yelled at her classmate pulling her away from the destroyed bells. Juri only turned around and glared at her. Sakura hated to admit it but the blue energy that Kagome somehow managed to summon was scary and seemed very dangerous. She had never seen anything like it before.

"I don't care she deserves it! She had it coming to her. Don't touch me and never call me a baka again! I don't like you one bit and I've only pretended to for the last year. Get your dirty hands OFF of me just go home. You're completely useless anyways. After all this was my plan. Unlike your stupid one, really ripping up her homework?! THAT was the best idea you could think of. My plan will work so- just GO HOME YOU PINK HEADED FREAK WITH AN ABNORMALLY GIGANTIC SHINEY FOREHEAD! YOU ARE A SPOILED ROTTEN NOBODY, WHO DOESN'T HAVE ANY REAL FRIENDS ANYWAYS! Look at yourself. At least Kagome has real friends unlike you!" Juri yelled back shrugging off Sakura's hands off of her shoulders. Watching as Sakura took her advice running off in the other direction with tears in her green eyes.

"If that's how you treat your friends, I can't imagine how you treat you enemies." She felt bad for Sakura who had just run off crying. Even the pink haired girl didn't deserve to be verbally abused since she was only trying to help. By this time had already Kirara jumped down from her spot off of Kagome's shoulder. Her fur bristled standing on end as she hissed loudly at the annoying ningen who had destroyed her shiny bells!

"Awww is that your kawaii little neko Higurashi? What's that little sewer rat going to do to me? Or are you too stupid to remember I'm a trained Kunoichi? One that is much better than you could ever be. Your little light show didn't scare me."

Kagome just watched as the flames surrounded Kirara's body and her true form emerged. The fire was burning a lot brighter, out of anger. Kirara opened her mouth and let out a ferocious roar. It was loud enough to scare the living day lights out of Juri, but not alert the villagers. Kagome knew how scary Kirara could be when she wanted to. Since her Obaa-chan often forced Kagome to spare with her. The look on Juri's sweating face said it all; she was scared shitless of the saber tooth neko.

"Th-that has to be….some sort of genjutsu you pulled when I wasn't looking Higurashi!" Juri stated after a scary monster had replaced the small neko. 'Ha ha, I know what I'll do. I can just dispel it......why didn't it work? Maybe I did it wrong? Let me do it again.....still! What is going on here? It can't be that, that neko really is…real-?'

"That isn't a genjutsu." A voice whispered into Juri's ear before her eye balls rolled to the back of her head.

"Rrrrrrerrrrr…." Kirara lay on the ground lightly pawing at the broken remains. Her ears remained droopy as she hissed at the girl Kagome had just knocked out. Then she disappeared off into the forest to vent her frustrations.

"I promise I'll get you some new bells as soon as I can Kirara!" Kagome called out to the neko. She then looked at the ground where Juri had fallen. All she had done was jab a reiki infused finger into one of her pressure points on the girl's neck. Which meant the girl was going to be knocked out, probably until tomorrow afternoon. Well sometime around there at the very least.

When Kagome spotted some rope one of the girls who had ran away must have dropped on the ground she got an idea. She walked over to a log on the ground carrying Juri's body over her shoulder. She wrapped the girl up like a cocoon placing her on top of an anthill making sure to secure the knot loosely enough for Juri to get free with a couple of wiggles. Some dead leaves were used to cover up the body from plain sight so no wild animals gnawed at her face.

"Kagome what are you doing here?" A sweaty Sasuke ran over when he had heard a loud roar coming from this general direction. Wanting a change of scenery from the Uchiha one for today he had been training in the Konoha training area. He thought maybe it was a stray youkai that somehow managed to get past the Konoha guards and figured that he could fight it. To test himself and see how strong he had become.

"Nothing much, I was just tying up some loose ends," She snickered at her own joke. "Are you done with your training today? I was just about to make my way over to your house."

"Un, I guess I have." Then Sasuke remembered that he had been too busy with his school work and training that he had forgotten to fill his fridge.

"Then ikuzou [let's go]….you did remember to buy things for your fridge….right?" Kagome said suspiciously as she saw a look quickly of 'uh oh' flicker on Sasuke's face.

"Iie…"

"Mou Sasuke….It's fine! Now you can tell me what you want me to cook and I'll pick out all the ingredients for it. Come on we still have time to make it before all the vendors shut their stalls for the day and go home." Kagome said grabbing Sasuke's hand running off in the direction of the market, blissfully unaware of how much larger Sasuke's warm hand was. The same could not be said for the person whose hand she was holding onto.

The corners of Sasuke's lips flickered upwards as they ran down the worn pathway. Kagome must have tripped on one of the many roots sticking up from the ground because he soon found himself being pulled to the ground. Sasuke firmly planted an arm on either side of her head preventing the weight of his body from crushing hers. It almost felt like the world had stopped as he starred down into her eyes. His heart pace had sped up a considerable amount. 'What is this feeling-?'

"Gomen!" Kagome laughed rolling out from underneath Sasuke. Jumping up and dusting her pants off while Sasuke remained frozen in that spot his body twitching. She continued down the path looking over her shoulder when she realized Sasuke wasn't following her. "Ikuzo! [Let's go!]"

* * *

"Quiet down you gaki's! For some of you this will be the last assignment, if you are able to pass the shinobi graduation exam." Iruka said with a massive grin on his face. He knew he would get all the children to pay attention to him when he said 'last assignment.'

"Does this assignment involve any writing?"

"Iie it doesn't. Good question, but let me continue explaining okay? So, for the last two months at the academy," 'for some of you' he added again in his head looking in Naruto's direction, pleasantly surprised to see him awake for once. "You won't have to hand in a bunch of written work. Which is why all of the writing assignments where given to you at the beginning of the year. Now I'm going to give you each two sheets of paper and I will explain them once everyone gets them. While you wait you can start filling out the sheet that asks you questions about yourselves."

The two sheets of paper were handed to Naruto and Kagome. Kagome instantly picked it them up and started to scan it over. One of them asked questions like: full name, date of birth, hobbies, habits, likes, dislikes, names of friends, duties, names of your family members, where you live, certain sayings and describe yourself in a sentence, questions like that. The other sheet was more like a letter to the parents. Talking about the assignment and to refrain themselves from attacking their child if they think that they are an imposter, for the next two or so months. It also said something about if you really don't want your child participating to send a letter in with your child. And they would get a different assignment, but this exercise was a really good learning experience for young shinobi's. Then it asked for their parent's or guardian's signature at the bottom of the page. Before she could read further the paper was yanked away from her.

"Nee-san will you sign mine for me? I'll sign your sheet for you!" Naruto slid his sheet over to her while scribbling his signature at the bottom of her consent form.

"Hopefully most of you have at least looked at the two sheets by now. While I talk you can fill in the question sheet. However, make sure you are also paying attention to me. The reason why you're filling those sheets out is so I can match you up with someone else in the class, who acts completely different than you do. Girls will be matched up with another girl and boys will be matched up to another boy. You are going to be another person for several days. That's how long you have to stay in your role. This assignment will test you on many different levels as a shinobi. Over the next two months people from this class may be acting differently because of this assignment. I will be giving everyone of you, one of these. I will walk around now and place it on your back." Iruka held up a small sticker and did his best to show it to the entire class before he began going around the classroom.

"Sensei what does it do?"

"This is a counter. It is activated when it comes into contact with your skin. For the next two months it will stay on your body, until I remove it. It is waterproof and shouldn't cause the wearer any discomfort whatsoever. Every time the phrase 'you're acting: strange, weird or different' any words to describe behavior that normally does not belong to the person you are trying to impersonate it will go up by one. You will be able to hear it make a clicking noise. As a shinobi it is important to gather the correct information before going on a mission. Once I've decided who you're going to be matched up to. You will be given a day where you are to stay after school. I will give you thirty minutes before you trade each other's clothes and I switch your appearances. During that time the two of you can then talk about anything you think will help you succeed on this assignment. You are not to tell your parents or anybody else when you are switching, who you are switching to and when you have switched. If you do, this counter will turn completely silver and you will fail. Did I miss putting a counter on anybody? Iie, okay good"

"What do we do with these when we're done?" Naruto asked waving around his sheet of completed questions that he had answered.

"I'll come around in fifteen minutes to pick them up, until then you can talk quietly amongst yourselves. Tomorrow I will be calling you up one by one and telling you the name of the person who you're turning into. This will be the same person who is turning into you. Remember that you are not allowed to discuss who you're turning into and do not come up here and ask me to change the person I paired you up with. Like I said earlier I am going to try and pair you up with a person that has a completely different life style than you."

* * *

Kagome looked around for the address where the girl she had traded appearances with lived. She had given her a list that had certain times to leave tea out for her father. The list had almost everything thing she did, right down to the very last minute of every day. She chewed on her lips looking around again. Kagome couldn't find the place for the life of her. It would be very unlike the nervous girl she had transformed into to ask someone if they could help her find where she lived. She had traded places with an extremely nice girl and Sango's rival's cousin. Her name was Hyuuga, Hinata and she was the first daughter born to the head of the Hyuuga clan. No pressure….right? Kagome wanted to laugh nervously when she finally found the Hyuuga district and stepped inside. It felt like she was sneaking into the place in plain sight to pull a huge prank on them.

'Their eyes are giving me the creeps. It's as if they already know I'm not Hinata-chan.' Kagome thought to herself walking with her head down so she didn't look into the other clan member's creepy snow white eyes. She supposed she too had creepy snow white eyes now. It took her a moment to step inside Hinata's eerily quiet pristine home. She removed Hinata's shoes from her feet and quietly stuttered, from her slight nervousness, "Ta-Tadaima! [I'm home!]"

'What was next on that list? Make tea or go back to room first? Etto…I'll go to her room….wait where the heck is her room. Oh! That's right I remember seeing that she wrote it down on the paper. I'll have to thank her for this later. I hope she's doing okay and nobody is causing too much trouble for her….' She slid open the door to Hinata's plain looking room that had a few things here and there and a picture of her when she was younger with what appeared to be her Kaa-san.

Looking at the list that Hinata had so painstakingly made, it even said how many tea spoons of tea leaves to put in the tea! Kagome promised herself that she would do something to repay the nice for the quiet girl. She stepped into the kitchen and boiled the water for the tea and made sure she got the correct amount of tea leaves for the tea pot. She double checked the list hidden away in her pocket just to make sure.

"Hinata." Hiashi called to his first daughter who was busily making his afternoon tea his voice cutting through the silence.

"H-hai?" Kagome stopped placing the cups on a wooden serving tray to bow. She observed Hinata's father. Sango was right. It did appear that everyone from the Hyuuga clan had a thirty foot long metal pole stuck up their asses 'except Hinata'.

'This isn't Hinata, the act is much better than that boy Neji switched with. Good thing they started giving out notices about the switches before they happen.' Hiashi abruptly walked away with his hands in his sleeves without replying to the girl. He wasn't going to waste his precious time talking to nothing more than an unworthy commoner.

* * *

Which Naruto character would you trade places with if you could and why that person?

Best review for the last chapter: Ldsprincess


	12. Painting Faces

Pages: 13

Words: 6,002

Chapter Twelve: Painting Faces

* * *

The boy that Neji had switched with had been a nervous wreck stepping foot onto the Hyuuga compound. Hiashi was immediately notified by the other members that the Hyuuga clan had an imposter, in the form of his late brother's son. When the head of the clan heard of this he had to act, in order to protect his clan's secrets. He told the fake Neji that he had decided to train him and then taught the gaki [brat], who dared tried to infiltrate Konoha's strongest clan, a lesson. Hiashi took away the boy's chances of ever being a shinobi away. He closed off most of his tenketsu points. After that the academy was forced to give out a notice and had parents sign the paper which said something along the lines of 'refrain yourself from attacking your child, if you think that they are an imposter.' The boy was just lucky to be alive since Hiashi could have easily killed him.

'What was that about?' Kagome watched as the head of the house walked away without saying anything else to her. Shaking her head she waited until the water had finished boiling then poured it into the tea pot. When everything seemed to be in order she grabbed two biscuits and placed them on a plate and brought it outside. She had walked into three different rooms that seemed to lead nowhere to the Hyuuga's yard. After stumbling around the house going into many wrong rooms she was finally able to find her way out.

Outside Hiashi was talking to Neji to remind him that a branch members' only duty was to protect the main branch. He waited for the Hinata imposter to bring them their afternoon tea. As 'Hinata' came along Neji visibly stiffened when the tray was placed on the ground in between him and his uncle. He wondered if Hiashi had noticed that they had an imposter- 'Of course he would have noticed. He's the head of the house.' The tea was expertly poured, pouring the cup closer to Hiashi first then placing the pot down before picking it up again and poured tea into Neji's cup, not a drop spilled. Neji narrowed his eyes his foolish cousin had probably given this person a list of what to do and how to do it.

"Is there anything else you guys need?" Kagome asked in a low voice as she tried to fit the tense atmosphere. What she didn't realize was that Hinata would not have referred to her father and cousin as 'guys' and the real Hinata would have stuttered slightly to be in the presence of her cousin who had an obvious hatred for her.

"Neji?" Hiashi asked his eyes looking at his branch family, nephew from the corner of his eye. Good the boy had enough talent to at least notice this person wasn't his cousin.

"Iie, Arigato _Hinata-sama._ That will be all." The boy bit out in clear distain. He hated being near any of the main branch members.

'Neji?' Kagome wondered as she walked away, 'where have I heard that name before…?' Her eyes widened in realization as Sango's angry screams resounded in her skull 'so that boy back there that is Sango's rival? Have to admit he does look like a pretty pansy boy…but he also seems very strong and extremely serious. What's with everyone being so expressionless nowadays, is it some sort of trend? To be cool you have to have no emotions, was that it?' She wondered who Sango and Miroku had switched with. It would have been fun to torment the person!

"Onee-san [Older sister]," Hinata's imouto [younger sister], Hanabi greeted stepping out from the shadows. "Otou-san [Father] is going to be training me again today. He says he'd rather spend time with someone who has potential. He's ashamed of you. You know that," She grinned waiting to see the hurt look across Hinata's face. "He told me Neji-san can use the clan's technique better than you can, a branch member is better than you!"

"Oh?" Kagome didn't really know how to reply to that. After all she didn't understand the whole inner workings of the Hyuuga Clan. Hanabi was glaring at her for some reason or another. 'That probably wasn't very Hinata like…'

'What's wrong with her? Why hasn't she run away from me yet?' Hanabi pulled out a kunai and held it out towards Hinata in a threatening manner. "The only thing you're good at is making tea."

"Hanabi, stop that at once. You'll need all your strength for later. Don't waste it on her." Hiashi reprimanded his youngest daughter.

"Hai, Otou-san gomen." Hanabi bowed to him. She looked up to see Hinata's reaction only to find out she had left. 'Probably to cry like the baby she is.'

'This family is seriously messed up.' Kagome sweat dropped.

* * *

"T-Tadaima!" Hinata tried to stop herself from stuttering, but she couldn't help it! She was nervous and the fact that she had to go around playing pranks on the villagers was one thing. However she had to do them with Naruto. This made her even MORE nervous than she normally was.

_"_Okaeri [Welcome back]!" Two voices said in unison. One of them sounded desperate, the one that was male. While the other one belonged to an angry female. 'They m-must be Miroku-san and Sango-san.'

"Onegai [Please] help me Kagome!" The male's voice cried out from the living room area. The apartment was small but it was nice. It wasn't like her giant home that was cold and sometimes gave her the creeps. That and her imouto had the habit of popping out of nowhere.

"How was your day Kagome?" Sango asked twirling around a youkai bone kunai around her finger before releasing it into a giant wooden target board. There lay chained up a dripping wet half naked Miroku. The kunai landed directly beside Miroku's pierced ear with a _thunk_ and the sharp blade went through to the other side. "That one was for always using up all the hot water."

"Al-alright San-go! Ho-how about yours?" Hinata asked her face was slowly turning red from the indecent amount of flesh the rather handsome boy was showing.

"You're acting a tad peculiar today Kagome…." Miroku said shivering 'is she sick? Her face is turning red'. _Click_.

"What was that noise?" Sango asked whirling around her eyes darting everywhere. She was gripping the eight kunai she had brandished, in a more deadly manner before relaxing. Then she turned back around facing Miroku before aiming. This time the many kunai were destined to land in between all of his fingers, at the same time.

"AHHH! Kagome onegai help me! Sango's trying to kill me again! Save me." Miroku sobbed. He didn't know why everyone always got so angry at him for beautifying himself in the bathroom. They just didn't understand that he needed to look good for all the ladies!

'Should I? What did Kagome-chan say about helping Miroku-san? That's right she said don't ever do it and just say he deserves it …because he probably did something wrong…again. Even if I want to help him I can't.' Hinata swallowed the lump in her throat before looking into his pleading eyes. Even if she didn't condone the behavior and felt kind of bad for the boy she closed her eyes and squeaked out, "Y-You deserve i-it!"

"See Kagome agrees with me! This is for using up all the shampoo, soap, cream, bath bubbles, bath salts, towels, facecloths, using my bandages and this, IS FOR TAKING UP ALL THE TIME IN THE BATHROOM, ALL- OF- THE- TIME!"

Hinata's eyes widened as a massive onslaught of weapons were pulled out of a box and thrown at Miroku's shaking body. 'She's scary.' However not one of them even grazed against his flesh, but when a sickle like weapon landed directly in between his legs he fainted. The board split in half and he fell to the ground still chained up. "Ano, S-Sango is he- okay?"

"Hmm, since when do you care what happens to him? I think he was right, you are acting strange are you sick?" _Click_. "There was that noise again? Where did it come from? Arhg, I'm going out to train can you unshackle Miroku's chains? I'll see you later Kagome, come on Kirara lets go!" Sango said grabbing Hiraikotsu from its spot near the door. As they were walking out the two tailed neko ran behind her.

"Ano…" Hinata mumbled shocked when the neko looked at her with its blood red eyes that clearly said 'I know you're not Kagome.'

"NEE-SAN! What did Miroku do now to make Sango so angry?" Naruto voice called jumping in just before the door closed. He walked straight up to 'Kagome' before passing her and held his stomach as he pointed and laughed at Miroku who was semi-dry now. Yet he was still tied down with weapons all shapes and sized embedded deep within the giant wooden target Sango somehow managed to get inside the apartment building.

'Na-Nar-Naru-Naruto-kun! Is-Is so close to me!' Hinata's face instantly heated up turning an impressive beet red color as he grabbed her shoulders and shook them.

"Ara? Hey are you sick or something? Now that I think about it I've actually never seen you get sick…." Naruto said putting his forehead against Kagome's only to watch as she slumped down on the floor, she looked like she had just fainted. "Nee-san?! Oh Kami are you dead?! YOU CAN'T DIEEEE!!"

"I-I'm fine…Let's go p-play some pranks!" Hinata had her eyes shut tight and put all her energy behind punching her fist in the air. Since she wasn't looking, her fist ended up making contact with the underneath of Naruto's jaw. His body was tossed into the air and he slid across the wood floors.

"What was that for?!" Naruto rubbed the sore area lifting up his upper body.

"Ah! G-gomen!" Hinata ran towards Naruto to see if he was okay but slipped on the rug and ended up head butting him. The back of his head hit the ground, knocking him out. "Narut-Naru-kun?!" She gently shook his body back and forth as drool slipped out of his mouth. 'Oh no!!' She dropped his body back to the ground and looked around for an icepack for his head.

"Kagome onegai….help me." Miroku cried rattling his chains like a prisoner.

Hinata's eyes widened. She had forgotten about the other guy! She ran over and got the shackles open and soon found herself being embraced tightly.

"You're my savior!" Miroku teasingly tilted up her jaw and leaned in.

'Wha-what?!' Hinata's face turned red. She ended up stomping on his foot in embarrassment.

"Itai! [Ouch!]" Miroku's hopped around on his left foot as he held onto his right. Due to the action his towel had loosened and was on the verge of falling off. While trying to catch the end of it to keep his decency intact, he slipped on one end of it and whacked his head on the edge of their table.

"Eep!" Hinata closed her eyes tight. 'I just- I just saw…that guy's….his... Oh Kami!?!'

* * *

"Ahh! It's so good to be back!" After Kagome had gotten back from staying back at the academy she danced around her apartment with the biggest grin on her face. Iruka had changed her back and took the itchy counter off of her, after she swore not to tell anyone who she had switched with. She had started to get a rather nasty rash from the adhesive on the counter…

The one thing that bothered her about the Hyuuga compound while she was there was Hanabi. 'That girl was so rude.' Clearly she was the favorite child. Hiashi barely spoke any words to her only walking by and telling her she was weird, which set off the counter. At one point she had been so close to blowing up at him but Neji had walked by at that moment and told her not to risk it. She was glad she took his advice because if she had attacked Hiashi, it would have probably led to her being kicked out of Konoha.

"What do you mean by that Kagome?" Sango asked suspiciously. Then in a worried tone said, "Everyone has been talking and we all agree that you haven't been acting like your usual self, what's been going on with you for the last week? You haven't been eating as much as you normally do. You've also been awfully quite and stuttered so much whenever Naruto and Miroku were around you. Seriously Kagome if there is something wrong you can tell us."

"I have no idea what you're talking about Sango, you worry too much!" She replied making a face. "You'll get those worry lines on your forehead at a young age, if you keep it up."

"I think she's back to normal now Sango… she's acting like herself again," Miroku said observing Kagome antics. He shrugged his shoulders when Sango looked in his direction. "Well it's about that time again Kagome for your weights to be increased."

"Mou….alright let's just get it over and done with." Kagome said sighing as she started to unraveled her bandages that where securely wrapped around her ankles and forearms.

"You're first Sango."

"Oh goodie, can't wait." Sango grumbled sarcastically lifting up her leg so Miroku could remove the left over ofuda of her old weight and apply a newly infused one. She was steadily increasing the weights on her legs by three, when she started she had been only increasing them by two. She was almost carrying two hundred on her legs she was just fifteen more pounds away. This meant that she was at one hundred and eighty five pounds. On her arms however that was a different story. She was increasing them by five, when she started she had been only increasing them by three pounds. Right now she was at two hundred and thirty eight pounds. Out of the three of them, her arm weights were always the heaviest. Sango wouldn't have it any other way. However because of that Sango's leg weights were not as heavy.

Miroku didn't understand why the girls wanted their weights put on in such a manner. He preferred to spread the pounds out. Every couple of days or at the end of each week he would add one pound to his arms and legs, maybe two if he was feeling up for a challenge. It didn't put so much strain on the body, but no they had to be difficult saying that 'we don't want you touching us for longer than you have to.' He just rolled his eyes. He had a feeling that the two girls were unaware that they were secretly masochists.

_"_Kagome why do you think we always go train right after we have our weights increased?" Sango asked kicking the log, not as fast as she normally did but it would still be pretty painful to be on the receiving end of it.

"Hmm_… _Wakaranai [I don't know] Sango whenever I get them increased I feel the need to train. It seems kind of dumb though because the next morning I'll just wake up sore like always….Obaa-chan made me do it." Kagome replied her reiki infused fist connecting with the side of the log. It not only cushioned Kagome's hand from the grainy rough surface but made a bigger dent in the wood.

"I'LL TELL YOU WHY-" Miroku yelled with his eyebrow twitching violently as he watched Kagome and Sango beat the wooden training block into woodchips.

* * *

'That Iruka-sensei....making me switch with that Dobe.' Sasuke thought grumpily as his footsteps echoed through the dirty old creaking building that Naruto lived in. Using the key to the rickety wooden front door he unlocked it and his nose instantly flared at the foul odour that invaded his nostrils. Naruto's apartment smelled like something had died in there. Screw that it was if a whole family of something had died.

"Che." Taking out the sheet that Naruto filled in Sasuke immediately crushed it into a ball and threw it away. It was absolutely useless! The only words he could make out were 'ramen', 'pranks' and 'Nee-san'. Wait- that was right he would be around Kagome for the next seven days and as the dobe he'd have to act like a brainless idiot. 'Sounds like fun.' He lied to himself.

"Naru-kun! Are you in there? You better have cleaned that apartment of yours." Kagome turned the doorknob, immediately sensing that this person wasn't Naruto. Only a second later she realized it was Sasuke in Naruto's body, they must have been forced to switch. She'd have to add their names to her growing list. That's right she was keeping a list of the people who had switched with each other. Thanks to her reiki senses she could easily tell who was who by looking at their auras.

"Nee-san," Sasuke cringed at the sound of Naruto's whining voice coming out from his throat. "I thought you could help me clean this place up."

"Iie," Kagome had to give Sasuke credit that was pretty 'Naru-kun' like. "You made this mess so you have to clean it up. I told you it smells and until you're done cleaning I'm not cooking you anymore dinner!"

That's when Sasuke noticed her armful of stuff, like a sleeping bag and toiletries. Pointing to them copying exactly what Naruto would do if he had been Naruto. He even poked them and ran all around her. "What are these for?"

"Mou S-Nau-kun, don't you remember when you invite a person to your place? That's why I told you to clean up your apartment _yesterday_," Kagome rolled her eyes and sighed going into the bedroom area and dropping her stuff on Naruto's messy unmade bed. "I'm sleeping over because it's lonely at my place since Sango and Miroku are away on a mission. You said to me that 'we can have a sleepover at my place' and what did I tell you?"

"….Gomen I forgot Nee-san, what did I tell you?" Sasuke almost choked up on that one. He managed to save himself and rubbed the back of his head laughing in the annoying way that Naruto did.

'Sasuke is really good at this….if I didn't know any better I would have thought this really was Naru-kun!' Kagome then got a gleam in her eye and grinned. That didn't mean she wasn't going to do _everything_ that she could to make Sasuke feel awkward and uncomfortable. "You said to me 'wakatta [got it]! I'll have my place all cleaned up. When you come tomorrow you won't even recognize the place' I'm going to go training. If I come back and the place isn't all cleaned up I'm going to shove your head in your dirty toilet and flush it fifty times. I'll see you later!"

'K-kagome can be scary when she wants to.' Sasuke thought to himself before looking around the apartment with distaste. He would get the dobe back for making _him_ clean up his (Naruto's) apartment. He really didn't want his head put into Naruto's bacteria infested toilet water. A shiver ran down his entire spine. He grunted putting on a gasmask and industrial rubber gloves before he started picking up the dirty clothes on the floor using a pair of metal tongs.

* * *

"Are you awake?"

"Un?" Sasuke grunted the reply. On his head was an ugly penguin hat that he was forced to wear because according to Kagome it was 'unlike' Naruto not to wear the hat. So he was wearing the dobe's pajamas along with the stupid hat on lying in Naruto's bed, he answered Kagome.

"Can I sleep on your bed? The floor is cold and your futon is really lumpy." Kagome grinned in the darkness wondering how Sasuke would answer her inquiry. She had slept in the same bed as Naruto but it was only to comfort the grieving boy when he was sad. Which was usually when she came down to visit, he didn't want to let her go so he'd sleep in the same bed as her. As he grew older he stopped doing it all together for the most part.

"If you want to." Sasuke felt himself gritting his teeth together could it be- that he was actually….jealous?! Jealous of how close the dobe and Kagome where? Him, Uchiha Sasuke was jealous…of the dobe…-yeah right…he wasn't….was he?

"It's just like when we were younger!" Kagome said crawling up on top of Sasuke trying to make him squirm and feel as uncomfortable as she possibly could. When she commented on sleeping in the same bed together, she had aimed the comment to Sasuke. She still remembered what he did when she had woken up after being brought to the Uchiha head house.

She trapped Sasuke by putting her hands on either side of his head to support her weight. Then leaned in closer and closer to his face until, her forehead was touching with his. Kagome was staring directly into his eyes. It brought her such glee to see him start to sweat and squirm underneath her since he usually acted like he had no emotions at all. She liked this Sasuke much better than the regular one. Even if he was only doing it because he was supposed to be acting like Naruto.

"K-Ka-go-me?" Sasuke cursed himself when he couldn't stop himself from stuttering. He blamed it on how he had to act all day…. it wasn't because he was nervous- or anything like that! Honest. Well…it was, actually because….he was- trying to- trying to act like Naruto! That was it! It had to be.

"Hai?" Kagome was grinning from ear to ear in her head screaming victory! Naruto would never call her by her name. It was always 'Nee-san' that was Sasuke's second mistake. His first one was when he actually cleaned Naruto's entire apartment up. The real Naruto would have just shoved everything into his closet, or at least tried to.

"What are you do-doing?" He swallowed the lump that had somehow made its way to his throat. Her lips were just so close to his… he could almost taste the sweetness of her breath. Her hair was hanging over the both of them like a long black curtain of silk….and as he breathed deeply he couldn't help but think Kagome smelled really good. It was a natural good smell too, not any of that artificial crap the girls who constantly professed their love for him, even if he didn't even know who they were, usually wore.

"Nothing," She said innocently moving her face closer to his. Her giggles threatened to spill out from her mouth at any moment. It was just too much. Sasuke had closed his eyes and looked like he was about to kiss her! And that was strike three. Naruto would never ever do anything like that! He would have already pushed her off of him, yelling 'Nee-san quit it you might give me cooties' or something along those lines. She couldn't help it. Sasuke's eyes were still shut and his lips had parted- and it was just too much! "He heh eheh he, you're acting really weird." _Click._

_"_Urusai…" Sasuke found himself mumbling half heartedly, how could she think _he_ was weird what about her?! She's the one who was acting so strange and carefree. He was so embarrassed that he could actually feel the heat coming off of his own face.

"We should have an eating contest, loser pays." Kagome mumbled letting out a small snort of laughter knowing that this time she'd probably win.

"Un an eating contest, I'll win for sure!" Sasuke was going to tear his tongue out of his mouth and wash them both with soap after this assignment was over after he said so many of the losers phrases. He was sure that he couldn't win against Kagome in an eating contest…but then again he had Naruto frog wallet to pay for things.

"You smell good Sas-" Sasuke's eyes widened how did-? Her mouth opened wide at that moment and she yawned loudly burying her face deeper into his chest. "-So that means you must have showered recently, I'm so proud of you."

'…Of course she didn't know it was him….but-' Sasuke found himself lying in the darkness with Kagome's head on his chest, wondering what name she would have said if she hadn't yawned at that exact moment.

* * *

"Bah! Yesterday was one of the most boring days of my entire life." Naruto kicked up a cloud of dirt 'the place where Sasuke lives is really spooky too. Also why does Sasuke sleep with a kunai under his pillow? I almost killed myself last night!!!'

"OH MY KAMI I'M TOUCHING SASUKE-KUN!!!" Some girl squealed grabbing Naruto.

"Itai [Ouch] that hurts you know, let go of me!" Naruto grunted struggling out of the girl's crushing grasp. His eyes widened as a hoard of stampeding girls ran towards him. He tried to make a quick getaway by turning around and scrambling in the opposite direction. Sasuke's face had a look of pure terror on his face.

"SASUKE-KUUUUUUN!" More girls cried out coming out from the woodworks.

He kept on running girls just pooled out of nowhere! Every time he tried to duck in an alleyway they found him wherever he went, they were there too! With the crazy look in their eyes as they chased him through the village streets there was too many of them. Sooner or later he wouldn't be able to run anymore and they were gaining on him. They tugged on the back of his shirt- Sasuke's shirt, trying to tear it off of his body. As he ran around a corner he was suddenly pulled into a store.

"Shh! Sasuke-kun don't worry about them. You're safe to hide here with me, anytime you feel like it."

'What's with teme getting all these girls to go crazy over him? How can they like someone like him to begin with it?! There is nothing special about him at all. He just tries to act all cool.' Naruto grumpily shrugged Ino's hand off his shoulder.

"I just can't believe you haven't visited me sooner, since you would clearly choose me over any of those other girls!" Ino smiled pressing her body against Sasuke's hugging him tightly.

"Hey! Let go of me!" Was his indignant reply, no girl- other than Kagome and Sango had ever hugged him before. His face turned red as she held onto him tighter.

"I'm just so happy to have to so close to me." Ino inhaled deeply and turned a little green around the edges Sasuke certainly didn't smell as good as he normally did. She immediately turned around and gagged a couple of times. 'Nothing a little cologne can't cover.'

"Ino-chan are you alright?"

"Un! Un! No problem at all Sasuke-kun, thanks for your concern. I've always known you secretly cared for me. You just can't resist my charm." She turned back around careful not to breathe as deeply the next time she was close to him. Ino pulled the elastic band out of her hair and struck a 'sexy pose.'

"What do you think of Naruto?" He was completely unaffected by the pose.

"Well I feel bad that he had to grow up like that, without any parents I mean. He's annoying at times…but if I didn't have any parents I'd probably be the same way. Why do you ask? You know…- Sasuke-kun I want you to know that these feelings I have for you is more than Sakura-chan's? We should spend some time together, just you and me." She ran her finger along the table the cash register was sitting on intentionally glancing at him under her lashes.

"Huh?" He glanced around behind him quickly and gulped 'what's with that look she's giving me?'

"Let's go on a date! I can protect you from all those other girls you know." Ino said smiling. "Stay here and I'll go get ready and tell my Kaa-san that I'm leaving okay? Actually if you want you can come upstairs."

"A d-date?" This was only because he looked like Sasuke he huffed and turned his head to look outside. He saw himself walking around with Kagome outside. They looked like they were buying groceries. Wait- that was right, Sasuke was now him!

"Sasuke-kun did you hear me?" She asked waiting for him to respond to her question prior to this one.

'Now that I think about Kagome acts nice to Sasuke-teme … since I'm in his body and I act rude to her. Then she won't be nice to him anymore! They are too close together for my liking!" He ran out the bell chimed as the door closed behind him.

"Hey wait, where do you think you are going?!" Ino yelled running after him and tackled him to the ground. "I knew it! You must be so eager to leave with me. Let's go out right now." She held onto Naruto's arm locking up the store before dragging him in the opposite direction the real Sasuke and Kagome were going.

"Let me go!" Naruto said trying to slip out from Ino's grasp. 'Sasuke and Kagome are getting away!!!'

"Don't be so shy around me Sasuke-kun!"

* * *

"Okay guys I have a couple of announcements to make. Only three people out of the entire classed failed, which is a lot less then what I had from previous years. When I collected the counter, the person who had the lowest amount, out of the entire class is Uchiha, Sasuke so congratulations. Now what I didn't tell you before was that this was also going to test your skills in noticing the changes in the people surrounding you. As a shinobi you have to be aware of your teammates and the people around you. For the next thirty minutes I want you to list the people who you thought were impersonating who. This will also show me who did a good job and who didn't." Iruka announced getting a bunch of groans in response.

"Oh! So I get it Nee-san, so when your face turned red and you kept on fainting when you were around me. That wasn't really you. So who did you trade places with?"

"NA-RU-TO you're not allowed to ask other people who they had to trade places with! That goes for the rest of the class also!"

"Pssst, Naru-kun I'm already done. You can copy off of mine." Kagome pulled the list she had been keeping of who switched with whom for the last two months. She slyly tried to slide the paper over to Naruto but was stopped by a snorting Iruka-sensei who grabbed the paper from her after running up the stairs and snatching it from her.

"KA-GO-ME! You're not allowed to share your answers with anybody either! AND THAT ALSO GOES FOR THE REST OF YOU!" Iruka yelled sitting back down in his seat holding his head in his hands. Then he looked at the paper Kagome had been trying to give to Naruto comparing it with his master copy. 'Th-this can't be. She was somehow able to list every single person and who I had paired them up with. Even the ones who were practically flawless with their act, Kagome still tried to help Naruto out by giving him this list she made....that girl- she's really amazing.'

* * *

"Naru-kun I don't think it's a good idea to be painting these faces carved into this mountain. I don't know about you, but to me they seem pretty important," Kagome said dipping her brush into the can of paint Naruto had brought to school with him. He looked like he was having fun. "They look really boring though and look like they could use a serious makeover."

"Un, don't worry about it Nee-san see the people down there like what we're doing! They've gathered down there to watch us. I've been doing this almost every day now and the crowd was never that big!" Naruto yelled over the angry villagers yells.

"Oh no, now there are TWO trouble making gakis?"

"Why do you keep doing this every day?!"

"You'll pay for disgracing the former Hokage's face you two. You should come down right now and apologize to all of us for what you're doing!"

"They don't sound happy about this. Mou they need to calm down..." Kagome said looking at the small yelling people, then back up at the ropes that were holding her suspended into the air over the rocky surface. She shrugged and dragged the brush against one of the figure's lips. Now it looked like he was wearing lipstick, she giggled. "This _is_ really amusing Naru-kun!"

"See I told you!" Naruto yelled over the villagers' voices again, he was getting pissed off at them. They were making it hard to have a conversation with all their yelling. "HEY, WHY DON'T YOU GUYS SHUT UP? LEAVE US ALONE! DON'T YOU HAVE SOMEWHERE ELSE IMPORTANT TO BE?!"

"Stop causing so much trouble for us!"

"If you stop ruining the Hokage's faces every day we couldn't do this you loud mouth gaki!"

"YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS BECAUSE I THOUGHT OF THIS IDEA FIRST BECAUSE I'M SO SMART AND SUPER TALENTED WHILE YOU'RE JUST A BUNCH OF NO TALENT LOSERS!"

"-AND YOU LOOK LIKE A BUNCH OF ANTS," Kagome shrugged when Naruto raised an eyebrow at her comment. "I just wanted to yell something too. Hey it's the Sandaime Hokage-sama guy. I think he's coming this way to admire our beautiful artwork!"

'Who was responsible for doing that to my handsome face? I don't have giant bright red lips like that!' Sarutobi thought dismayed looked at the vandalized faces. He wasn't surprised to see Naruto up there, but Kagome now as well? What had Naruto done to taint that poor innocent looking girl he had known?

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING UP THERE WHEN YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE IN MY CLASS!! BOTH OF YOU GET DOWN HERE IMMEDIATELY, DON'T MAKE ME COME UP THERE!" Iruka yelled up at the two troublemakers smacking his forehead when they both tried to make a run for it. They got tangles up in each others' ropes. Once he had tied them up, he brought them back and dropped them on their butt's right in front of the entire class. "Tomorrow is the shinobi graduation exam and I do have to remind you Naruto the last two times you took it failed! So this is not a good time for you to be pulling those pranks of yours ya hear? And Kagome-kun I thought you knew better than this!"

"Un.... un....whatever Iruka-sensei," Naruto muttered looking the other direction looking completely disinterested. "He just doesn't get our artistic abilities does he?"

"I guess not, maybe he was just jealous that we were having all the fun. Maybe he just doesn't understand our need to express ourselves, using paint as our medium."

"Un Nee-san! Those faces were like our canvas. That's probably it he coul-"

"YOU GUYS! That's it, time for a review test on the 'Henge no jutsu'! Everyone line up in a straight line at the front of the class. Stop complaining! I want all of you to transform perfectly into an exact replica of me!" Iruka yelled after he had snapped. He successfully interrupted the small conversation of Kagome and Naruto and made all the kids in the class groan (at the same time too) as they dragged themselves to the front of the class before Iruka sprayed his spit on their faces from yelling so much. One by one each of them transformed into a perfect replica of Iruka-sensei, Kagome transformed perfectly like all the other kids and it was now Naruto's turn.

* * *

What do you think the Naruto/InuYasha characters smell like?

Best review for the last chapter: KibaSin


	13. Graduation Failures

Pages: 13

Words: 6, 124

Chapter Thirteen: Graduation Failures

* * *

'Heh heh heh! Now is the time to unveil the technique I've managed to perfect from the idea I got from that bar of soap...whatever happened to that bar of soap anyways? Whatever, it doesn't matter!' Naruto thought as he stepped up to perform 'the technique.'

* * *

Meanwhile, Sango was waiting for Miroku to get out of the bathroom yet again. This time she was getting really impatient. Her week hadn't been going so well. First she had found out that her team was getting another one of the out of the village missions. She was about to go rub it in Neji's face, when Tenten, a girl Sango actually saw as a friend, told them that HER team had also been assigned a mission outside of the village. Then while on the mission which was a youkai slaying one, the outfit that Kagome had given to her on her more recent birthday. The one that was made with black stretchy fabric and had light red armor was torn. Along with that her weights had been increased today and they had been training. So here she was aggravated and bathing in her smelly sweat. On top of that, she had to listen to Miroku's horrible singing in the shower voice!

"Kirara I'm going to go use Naruto's shower if Miroku gets out of the bathroom before I get back make sure you whack him in the face." Sango muttered to Kirara who had gotten out of her sad mood that she had been the day after they got back from their mission. Grabbing a fresh towel, her clothes and two hairpins she picked the lock on Naruto's door. Sango was already in the shower when she realized she had forgotten to bring some soap. Luckily she spotted a bar hidden away in the corner of the tub trapped in the shower curtain and shrugged. Making sure she shaved off all sides of the bar and ran it under boiling hot water for thirty seconds before she deemed it alright to use.

Miroku on the other hand was so happy their mission outside of the village had gone so well and he had been able to meet so many kawaii village girls. He was still in the shower and had just hit the highest note in the song he was currently singing. When this guy with a towel wrapped around his body, like a girl, kicked his bathroom door down. The other male was really buff and built this guy looked like he trained a lot, what had he ever done to offend such a person? He did not know.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT MIROKU!" Sango screamed before violently smashing the bar of soap into his flesh as she ran it all over his body with her eyes shut tight.

"Ex-Excuse me but d-do I know you?" What happened to his voice? Why did he suddenly sound like a girl? Miroku looked down at his chest his eyes widening to the size of a bowling ball. WHEN DID HE GROW BREASTS?!

"It's me, Sango, but you wouldn't know that because YOU have been hogging up the shower for the last hour and a half singing that stupid song of yours! You always do this! So I had to use Naruto's shower and used this bar of soap! WHICH TURNED ME INTO A FRIKING GUY! THIS IS BECAUSE YOU'RE SUCH A BATHROOM HOG! NOW I HAVE TO SUFFER THOUGH WHAT KAGOME HAD TO!" Sango angrily threw the remaining scraps of soap at Miroku's body with her eyes still closed huffing before stomping out and slamming the broken bathroom door shut, only to have the door completely fall off its hinges.

'She's _really_ angry this time.' Miroku thought his whole body shaking from fear and he looked like a deer caught in the headlight. Then got a perverted grin on his face and grabbed at the fatty lumps on his chest and started squeezing them. 'This isn't a punishment! Arigato Naruto!'

* * *

Naruto sneezed just as he was adjusting the green goggles on his forehead. Then getting into position he took in a deep breath. He was going to blow everyone's minds away when they saw this! He went through the hand signs before calling out "_Sexy no jutsu_!" The older- naked female Naruto with wisps floating around his-her naked parts winked and blew a giant kiss in Iruka's direction. Naruto only transformed back into himself when Iruka was shot back by his insane nose bleed. "Gyahahahah! How did you like that? I call it the "Sexy no jutsu!"

"YOU BAKA STOP WASTING YOUR TIME INVENTIG STUPID TECHNIQUES!"

"Ano, Iruka-sensei you seemed to enjoy it though." Kagome piped up looking slyly at the teacher before snapping her fingers. "Are you an ecchi da?" She asked innocently with a giant grin on her face, 'Iruka-sensei looks so funny with the pieces of tissue shoved up his nostrils to stop the blood from pouring out of them.'

"Okay you two troublemakers I'm not letting you leave until you finished cleaning off all this paint you used to vandalize this mountain." Iruka said watching over the children who were scrubbing the rocky surface. He wanted to make sure they didn't try and escape until all traces of paint were completely gone.

"Mou...." Kagome sighed sticking her tongue out at Iruka as she squeezed the excess water out from the towel she was using. Her stomach rumbled from hunger and her stomachs cries were soon accompanied by Naruto's.

"Etto....ano guys," Iruka looked down to see both children curled up in the fetal position clutching their stomachs and groaning. "If you finish cleaning up I promise to treat the both of you two some ramen tonight. How does that sound to you?"

"Hai! I'll do it for the ramen!" Naruto was furiously scrubbing away now.

"Un! I'll race you Naruto whoever cleans up their side faster has to do all of the losers dirty laundry! " Was Kagome's reply as she challenged Naruto working extra hard to clean her side faster.

"I'm not going to lose Nee-san because I don't want to have to touch anyone's dirty underwear!" Naruto made a face when he thought about it. "Well I think you better get ready to wash all my clothes since I haven't cleaned them for at least a month!"

"THAT'S WHY YOU SMELL SO BAD!" Kagome hurled the soaking wet cloth at Naruto's face so she could stand there and point at him.

"IIE! IT'S JUST THE ODOUR OF A REAL MAN!"

'These guys....' Iruka thought fondly as they started bickering back and forth now throwing water at each other. "OI! GET BACK TO WORK! Otherwise I won't treat you to that ramen I promised to you!"

"No fair you can't break a promise!" Was Kagome's indignant reply, as she looked up where Iruka was sitting with a pout on her face.

"If you two get back to work I won't have to then!" Came Iruka's overly cheery response.

"Hai alright sensei!" Kagome saluted him with a giggle before picking up the washcloth to continue cleaning her side. "You're going to clean faster than that Naru-kun if you don't want to do all the dirty laundry belonging to Sango, Miroku and I! I'm almost done cleaning my side already. It's probably because Obaa-chan made me do so many pointless chores similar to this one when I was with her! Uh oh looks like you're going to lose!"

"IIE!" Naruto cried using his two hands to scrub the paint off even faster and harder with tears streaming out of his eyes. He _hated_ doing the laundry!

* * *

"Why'd you guys deface the Hokage monument in the first place?" Iruka found himself asking as Naruto and Kagome sat to the left of him happily slurping their noodles away, only Naruto was the one sitting closer to him and had removed his goggles prior to him digging into his bowl of ramen. "You know who the Hokages are... don't you?"

"Of course we do Iruka-sensei, we're not stupid!" Naruto answered. "They're the strongest shinobi out of the entire village right??"

"Hai, and one of them, the Yondaime, is a hero who saved the entire village from a youkai demon who threatened to destroy the entire village!" Kagome said swinging her legs back and forth savoring the taste of the noodles. Kaede had told her this story among the many other strange tales and legends.

"So then I find myself having to ask you guys, why'd you do it?" Iruka asked sighing, he really didn't understand these to unique children he had the privilege of getting to know.

"That's because one day I'm going to receive the title of 'Hokage' and I'm going to be the best Hokage ever! I'm going to surpass them all in every way possible and make all the villagers realize how wrong they were about me! Then they'd have to recognize me because I will rule over all of Konoha doing all sorts of amazing deeds of kindness!" Naruto announced pointing his chopsticks dangerously close to Iruka's eyes. "Ano, Iruka-sensei I have...a request for you...."

"Nani? Do you want seconds?!" Iruka asked slurping up the noodle that had hung out of his mouth from Naruto's unexpected outburst.

"Iie! I just want to borrow your Konoha hitai-ite onegai [please]!" Naruto pleaded bowing his head and holding out his hands held together as if he was praying to Kami.

"Mou Iruka-sensei if Naru-kun doesn't want to have seconds can I have seconds?" Kagome asked turning around in her seat with the biggest saddest most realistic puppy dog eyes she could muster, she was still hungry. "On-eg-ai?"

"Alright Kagome-kun you can order one more bowl," Iruka said his eyebrow twitching he couldn't say 'no' to a face like that. He then turned back to Naruto touching the fabric of the Konoha hitai-ite on his forehead. "This is for only after you graduate Naruto-kun! It's a symbol that you're a responsible shinobi of Konoha, maybe you'll get yours tomorrow."

"YOU'RE SO MEAN IRUKA-SENSEI! I REALLY THOUGHT YOU'D SAY HAI [YES]!" Naruto yelled swallowing down the rest of his noodles while Kagome giggled at him already onto her second bowl.

"I get it, so you removed your goggles just so you could ask me if you could borrow my hitai-ite? Ha ha!"

"Hmpft! SECONDS ONEGAI!" Naruto yelled slamming down his empty bowl to the table.

"HEY?! You didn't even ask!" Iruka yelled sounding very shocked.

* * *

"Nee-san you have to get up! Today's the big day!" Naruto said dragging a sleeping Kagome straight out of bed and onto the hard floor.

"MAGICAL TALKING ZEBRA I DON'T WANT TO HAVE A PENOR!- ughrgh what do you want Naru-kun...?" She asked as she was pulled off of the floor.

"Today's the big day remember!" Naruto yelled excitedly he quickly ran away and pulled his calendar off of his wall and brought it to her pointing at the day that was labelled 'graduation exam' and circled three times with a red marker. "The day I'm going to become a full fledged shinobi of this village and get the Konoha hitai-ite! Like the one Sango, Miroku, Iruka-sensei and sometimes Kirara wear!"

"Ohhh…Un [yeah]…So what did you do with those green goggles you always have on your head?" Kagome asked going to pour herself a bowl of cereal. Only to have everything she had taken out put back where it belonged by Naruto. He then proceeded to cram three breakfast bars into her mouth instead.

"I took them off! Didn't you hear me say that I'm going to get a hitai-ite today! Look you don't have time for you to eat breakfast! Come on and get dressed we're going to be late! This is really important and for once I want to be on time for the graduation exam!" Naruto said pushing her back into her room and closing the door so she could change.

"Alright Ikuzou! Ikuzou! Ikuzou! [let's go! Let's go! Let's go!]" Naruto ran carrying a half asleep Kagome on his back all the way to the academy. Somehow he had managed to slide both of them into their seats just seconds before Iruka-sensei arrived.

"I'm glad to see that everyone is on time and ready for the graduation exam. For the exam you will be asked to perform the Bushin no jutsu, you must create two perfect other clones to graduate. The order of the names that are called out are in no particular order. When you hear your name called you are to go into the next room and execute the jutsu to the best of you ability, alright everyone I know you can do this, good luck." Iruka said before stepping out into the next room 'I really hope Naruto practiced this jutsu.'

"Nee-san! Wake up! Iruka-sensei just said that we have to do the _Bushin no jutsu_ in order to graduate! " Naruto yelled shaking her back and forth. "You know how that's my worst skill out of all the other jutsus. I'm not going to be able to pass!"

"Dobe, that's one of the simplest jutsus any shinobi without half their brain would even know how to do it." Sasuke insulted liking the look of terror on Naruto's face.

"Urusai na! [Shut the hell up!] Sasuke I don't have time for your insults today! NEE-SAN YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP!"

"Mouuuu…. Naru-kun you just have to remember to relax." Kagome said finally lifting up her head then patted Naruto on the shoulder.

"Uzumaki, Naruto."

"EEK! IT'S MY TURN ALREADY?!" Naruto yelled digging his fingers into Kagome's arm with an iron grip.

"Ganbatte! [You can do it!]" Kagome smiled prying his fingers off her arm before pushing him all the way to the other room. When she got back to the room she slumped back on the table and went back to sleep as other kids were slowly called one by one next door. Soon only Kagome was left in the empty class. She lifted up her head and yawned widely, she had just had the best power nap ever. Staying out training for most of the night probably wasn't the best idea.

"Higurashi, Kagome. You're the last person to go, onegai make your way to the examination room."

"Alright Kagome-kun is it you just have to do the Bushin no jutsu to pass!" Iruka said he was absolutely sure the girl was going to pass the exam with no problem at all.

"Iruka-sensei did Naru-kun pass?" Kagome asked curiously tilting her head to the side as she did. Looking at the table that still had a rather startling amount of hitai-ites left on it.

"Oh so you're Naruto-kun's friend, aren't you?" A man with jaw length hair asked her with a fake smile on his face.

"Un, I want to know if he passed." Kagome straighten out her entire body. She did not like the man one bit he seemed suspicious and his aura was tainted with a blackish purple color it swirled around malevolently. That was never a good sign.

"Iie, gomen. Naruto-kun failed he couldn't split himself up into three and he was only able to create one clone and it was useless and wouldn't help him in a shinobi battle." Iruka answered shaking his head. He felt sorry for the boy, he truly did- but he would feel a lot worse if he had passed Naruto who wouldn't be able to even defend himself in a battle.

"Even if this was his third time, I wanted him to pass….we still can't pass him Iruka-sensei?"

"Iie, you know we can't Mizuki-sensei it's not safe for him to be out there in the real world and not be able to correctly perform this jutsu, everyone else can do it so he should be able to do it to," Iruka replied before looking back to Kagome who was waiting their patiently. "Gomen, go ahead Kagome-kun…….whenever you're ready….is there something wrong?"

"Are you nervous Kagome-kun? Do you need a glass of water or something? I can go get one for you if you like." Mizuki said scooting his chair back causing the legs to scrape against the floor loudly as the noise echoed in the room, he watched as the girl just stand there. She appeared to be in deep thought.

"Arigato but iie. Gomen Iruka-sensei I can't do the jutsu." Kagome said bowing, if Naruto didn't pass she wasn't going to either and that was that, she had made up her mind.

"Na-nani?! Why not? Your grade in ninjutsu was one of the best out of the entire class!" Iruka stood up his hands placed on the table in front of him.

"I don't know why by learning ninjutsu was easy for me….and Naru-kun didn't pass, so I can't either I promised him I couldn't get in the way of his dream. I don't break the promises I make, _ever_," Kagome bowed again so show her respect. "Gomen. I'm going to go find Naru-kun now." She ran out of the building easily sensing where her depressed friend was.

"I'm telling you Mizuki-sensei that girl could have easily passed if she wanted to. She's too loyal to Naruto-kun I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad one. Well I guess there is nothing else to do other than to inform the Hokage of the kids who passed. I'll see you around." Iruka said sighing as he walked out of the examination room thinking 'she could have passed.'

"Good job on passing kiddo let's go get some ice cream together so that I can celebrate this occasion with you."

"You have no idea how proud you've made your family by becoming a fully fledged shinobi!"

"Look over there. It's _that _kid I heard he was the only one that failed the graduation exam."

"That's a huge relief I wouldn't want him to become a shinobi anyways because he has that-"

"Hush! You know we're forbidden about talking about that it's a rule."

"Well he must be really be a baka to be the only one to fail the graduation exam."

"Urusai na! [Shut the hell up!] I failed the exam too it's not only Naru-kun who failed so you can stop glaring and staring at him. You can look at me that way instead because _I_ failed also." Kagome yelled at the people successfully shutting them up as she glared at them.

"Honto ni? [Really?] Nee-san you failed?! How could you fail though you could always do it in class! Your mark in ninjutsu was really high on your report card too. I saw your grade with my own eyes!" Naruto asked as Kagome made her way over to where he was sitting sideways on the swing.

"You're such a snoop Naru-kun, I told you to stop looking through my mail! Let's go get some ramen though, my treat okay?" Kagome said trying to steer him away from the topic of the graduation exam all together.

"Oh boy, I'd never pass up free ramen!" He said excitedly getting off the swing.

'Naru-kun put his goggles back on…' She thought to herself as they walked through the empty streets. Everyone was probably off celebrating their kid's graduation.

"Hey! You there, Naruto-kun and Kagome-kun!" Mizuki-sensei called chasing after them.

"Mizuki-sensei?!" Naruto asked turning around before remembering what had happened. "Iruka-sensei said that I couldn't pass because I created only one useless clone of myself. Mizuki-sensei tried to convince Iruka-sensei to pass me but he only said 'I'm sorry Naruto-kun but I can't let you pass.' How come you didn't pass Nee-san?"

"I just couldn't," Kagome replied giving him a sad looking smile before giving him an actual smile. "It's alright with me though ano…let's not go back home though Sango and Miroku will yell at me when they find out I didn't pass, more Sango than Miroku. You know how she is."

"You guys I want to talk to you, I know a really good spot to sit and have a conversation," Mizuki-sensei said motioning the two children to quickly follow him before he was spotted by anyone with these two gakis. "Naruto-kun I wanted to let you know that Iruka takes his job very seriously. His parents were killed when he was young and since then he's always had to do everything himself. You have to understand his feelings since you also have no parents."

'Mou, what a rude thing to say and in such a careless manner too.' Kagome thought sitting as far away as she could from Mizuki-'sensei' the dark purple swirls in his aura was slowly growing.

"I still wish I had graduated, do you feel the same way I do Nee-san?"

"Un… I wish I had graduated also."

"Well…I suppose I can tell the two of you a super special secret way of passing….only if you promise not to tell anyone else that I told you how." Mizuki said thinking it was just too easy to manipulate the two stupid children to steal the forbidden jutsu scroll of sealing from the Hokage tower. Since they were just children he would easily be able to kill them afterwards and take the scroll making everyone think that they had run away with it. It was really just too easy!

"I got it, I promise!" Naruto yelled excitedly, Kagome turned her body to face Mizuki to show that she was listening when he explained to them what they had to do if they wanted to pass.

* * *

"Let's see so the first jutsu here is the Kage Bushin no jutsu! Nee-san why does it start off with a technique I'm horrible at?" Naruto whined placing the scroll on the ground cursing as it almost rolled away from him, he caught it before the scroll unraveled itself completely.

"Naru-kun I don't have a good feeling about this," Kagome said feeling uneasily kicking around some dirt with the front of her shoe. "I don't like the feeling I get when I'm around Mizuki-sensei...."

"Why? Mizuki-sensei was really nice to us by telling us how we could pass! We just have to learn at least one of the techniques that's what Mizuki-sensei said to do and I want to prove myself to Iruka-sensei so that I can get my finally get my hitai-ite! Don't you want to pass as well, then maybe we can even be put on the same team together!?"

"Alright Naruto, move over so I can see the scroll too." Kagome said with a smile on her face as soon as her eyes connected with the page and she scanned it over the page the hand signs came to life right off of the page and where displayed right in front of her very eyes. She tried to refrain herself from rubbing them. They always felt this way, even in class whenever they learned a ninjutsu it was as if she instantly knew it right afterward. That's why her mark was so high in the class, she felt like a cheater because she didn't have to work as hard as the other kids. She couldn't stop herself and rubbed her eyes.

"Nee-san your eyes are all scary looking and red…" Naruto said her eyes had three commas in one eye and two in the other, both of them however looked really evil looking.

"They are? It must be because I keep rubbing them. Don't worry about me you keep practicing." Kagome asked stopping her hands from going up to her eyes and rubbing them again. Her eyes went back to the scroll and continued to look over the material.

"Okay. This sounds really hard, but- I'm going to try it. Alright here I go! Crap, I must have done it wrong. Why aren't you practicing? If you just keep reading you might not be able to pass! You should at least practice the Kage Bushin no jutsu with me." Naruto words fell on deaf ears as Kagome continued to move down the length of the scroll her eyes didn't want to tear themselves away from all the jutsus written down on the page.

Naruto's body flew back from a failed attempt and knocked her away from reading all of the contents of the forbidden scroll. Kagome gave her eyes another good rubbing. She had been put into some kind of trance that she couldn't seem to snap out of. Not only that, but for some reason she now had a pounding headache. She looked away as she kicked the scroll almost completely closed. The sun was starting to rise already; it meant that they had been out here almost all night…

"Nee-san I did it! And your eyes are back to normal too!" Naruto said proudly, dirt was smeared all over his clothes and the scroll was neatly rolled back and was now on his back. He looked rough around the edges but he was happy. "I'm going to be able to get my hitai-ite now! But how come you didn't practice? What If Iruka-sensei fails you again?"

"THERE YOU ARE I FOUND YOU TWO GAKIS! Everyone is looking for the both of you!" Iruka yelled jumping down from a tree branch. "You guys have really done it this time. You're both in big trouble. You're lucky I found you first. What the hell are you guys doing out here anyways?"

"I'm going to graduate from the academy once and for all! I only managed to learn one skill but that should be enough to pass right Iruka-sensei? Let me show you!" Naruto's feet slid down into position.

"… Where did you guys get that scroll, the one that you're carrying on your back Naruto?"

"Mizuki-sensei told us about the super secret special way to graduate. He also told us we should practice here in this place. He said no one would be able to find us here. What a liar! And he wanted me to promise him that I wouldn't tell anyone, but Naru-kun was the only one who promised!" Kagome said sticking her tongue out before her she sensed on coming danger, she knocked Naruto out of the way and jumped back yelling, "Watch out Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka didn't have enough warning time to move out of the way as the onslaught of weapons where embedded into different parts of his body. A couple of them rebounded and one stray kunai managed to lodge itself into Kagome's right calf, making her cry out in pain. All of them were all thrown by Mizuki who was perched on a branch with two Fuuma Shuriken strapped to his back. "I know what's going on Mizuki and you can't get away with this!"

"Naruto-kun give me the scroll!" Mizuki yelled to the boy who looked confused sitting on the ground, Mizuki held out his hand wearing a fake smile on his face. "Onegai?"

"Iie! Naru-kun don't give it to him!" Kagome yelled out, pulling out the bloody kunai and tossing it to the ground. She continued looked back and forth between the injured Iruka and the person who had caused all of the injury.

"Kagome is right Naruto! That's a dangerous scroll has many forbidden ninjutsu sealing techniques! Mizuki only used you guys so he could get his hands on it!" Iruka yelled the kunai that were stuck in his body were impairing his movements.

"Naruto-kun, you don't need that scroll. How about I tell you a story in return for that scroll on your back?" Mizuki said continuing on with his silly façade. "Twelve years ago, you heard about that fox youkai attacking and destroying almost all of the village right? Well ever since then a new rule was made by the Sandaime. Part of this rule, was never to tell you the rule."

"Why not?" Kagome asked her curiosity was definitely peaked… could it be that the fox youkai Mizuki was talking about was the same youkai she felt inside Naruto? Blood was seeping past her fingers as she applied pressure on the wound that Mizuki had caused.

"Huh?! Un! Why not?" Naruto cried out indignantly, why was it apart of a rule not to tell somebody else the rule? How would that person know if they broke it, if they never knew the rule existed? His head started to hurt from thinking about it. "What kind of rule is it?"

"Oh nothing really, it's just about the fact that we were never to tell you that _you_ are the nine tailed fox youkai." Mizuki said narrowing his hate filled eyes at the gaki.

"STOP IT! MIZUKI STOP!" Iruka yelled in hopes that others would hear his cry.

"You are the youkai that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed the village! You were sealed up! Didn't you think it was strange that everyone in the village hates you? Even Iruka-sensei hates you because you're responsible for killing his parents! And do you want to know the real reason why Kagome-kun didn't pass her graduation exam? It was your entire fault she said she didn't want to get in the way of your stupid dream because she promised you she wouldn't. She wants to stop being your friend because of that you for that you know? She told me so herself. I mean really to think the reason she didn't want to pass because she pitied you when she found out that you had failed!"

"URUSAI NA! M-maybe the part about Iruka is true bu-but Nee-san will NEVER stop being my friend." Naruto said fiercely with a slight growl.

"Un! I don't hate Naru-kun and never will! And you're a baka, because he isn't that fox youkai. Even _if_ Nau-kun was one, I would _still_ be his best friend!" Kagome yelled, this man was really starting to make her angry! Her reiki was making her skin tingle.

"You have been told lies your whole miserable life! I'll be glad to put an end to it," Mizuki yelled as he spun a Fuuma Shuriken around. "Want to hear something really funny? That scroll you're carrying around is the exact same scroll was used to seal you up!" He let go of the spinning weapon watching with a sadistic grin on his face as it made its way to the where the fox youkai gaki was standing….Iruka was running to protect him, but where had the short girl-?

"Don't you dare tell Naru-kun things I never said!" Kagome said rolling on the round and picking up six kunai that she held in between all of her fingers and threw them at Mizuki. He tried to dodge them but in doing so he slipped off of the branch when one landed to close to his foot. Kagome watched as he fell and then sent a well aimed reiki infused punch into his stomach, just as he was about to hit the ground. She dropped her fist and with that his body fell to the side and he lay there rolling around on the ground in pain spitting out a buildup of saliva. His organs felt like they were going to spew out of his open mouth at any given moment.

"Kagome-kun! You have to go after Naruto!" Iruka yelled to her on his hands and knees with a Fuuma Shuriken sticking out of his back.

"Iruka-sensei are you going to be-"

"_GO!_"

Kagome frowned looking back at that battered Iruka before she went tracked down Naruto. She slid into a clearing darting behind the trunk of the tree where Naruto was clutching the scroll to his chest. She could sense Mizuki and Iruka coming in this direction. "Nau-kun," She whispered quietly making sure she didn't touch him, because he was in such a state of shock that it was unnecessary contact at the moment. "It's me." She hid beside him when Iruka and Mizuki were talking in the small clearing she had passed. Kagome felt angry with Iruka when he had started to agree with what Mizuki said about Naruto.

"Nee-san…even Iruka-sensei doesn't acknowledge me! Even though he just told me that he was just like me…"

"-The fox youkai would have done that, but Naruto-kun is different. He is, I've even come to acknowledge him as one of my best students. Course he's not the hardest worker and he's clumsy and can act like a real baka sometimes. However he isn't the fox youkai, he's….he's a member of the village and he's Uzumaki, Naruto, the number one trouble maker in all of Konoha!" Iruka said sitting at the base of a tree unable to move from the pain and the blood loss.

'Naru-kun….' Kagome thought watching as her friend had tears pouring out of his eyes…and snot leaked out of his nose. He made was such an attractive site right now. She patted him on the shoulder and he turned to her and whispered in her ear his plan.

"Iruka, I said I would kill you later but I think I've changed my mind. I'll put you out of your misery and tell everyone that you helped those gaki's escape once I kill them too." Mizuki said taking his last Fuuma Shuriken off of his back and began twirling it around and around ready to throw, but he was head butted away by someone's thick skull causing the Shuriken to veer off course.

"…You gaki you'll pay for that!" Mizuki said struggling to get up off of the ground.

"Don't touch Iruka-sensei, I'LL KILL YOU." Naruto announced tossing the scroll back, knowing that Kagome could catch it before it hit the ground.

"I'd like to see you try and kill me you're nothing more than a loud mouth weakling. I can kill you in just one go you're just a wimpy no talent gaki." Mizuki hissed finally standing, he clutched his stomach in pain, what did that short gaki girl do to make it hurt so much?

"BAKA! Run away! Why did you both come out of hiding?! It's dangerous this isn't fun and games anymore!" Iruka yelled wincing as Kagome ripped out the kunai that were embedded in his arm before tearing out the weapons from his chest and continued until they were all gone. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING KAGOME?!?! I'M GOING TO BLEED OUT NOW THAT YOU'VE TAKEN THEM ALL OUT! I'M GOING TO DIE AT A YOUNG AGE FROM BLOOD LOSS!"

"_KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU_!"

"Iruka-sensei urusai ne? Trust me," Kagome said with a smile on her face, making sure he was looking into her eyes when she first started to run her hands over all of his wounds which were almost instantly healed over, taking a couple of minutes each. She was sitting on top of her legs as her hands stopped glowing light pink. "See you're all better now!"

"Kagome-kun…sugoi…." Iruka whispered poking his fingers through his torn uniform to poke at his flesh, grunting in pain as his finger jabbed into the sore pink flesh.

"I thought you were going to kill me in just one go Mizuki, come on why don't you do it then?" All the Naruto clones asked at the same time making Mizuki drop to the ground crawling on his back in fear as his head spun around, he could see that he was completely surrounded. "I guess that I'll just have to show you how it's done then!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Mizuki's cries of pain could be heard throughout the village.

"Etto…. I think I went too far." Naruto lightly nudged his foot into Mizuki's beaten side.

"He only got what he had coming to him Naru-kun even if it was a thousand complete clones of yourself!" Kagome said laughing.

"Un! I guess so you're right Nee-san!" Naruto said joining in her laughter.

"Iruka-sensei, lean down I have to tell you something," Kagome whispered into Iruka's ear making sure Naruto, who had his eyes narrowed in suspicion, didn't hear anything. Then she sat back down on the ground, "Don't you think he deserves it?"

"Hai, okay Naruto close your eyes I have something to give you," Iruka said and once he had made sure the boy's eyes were closed he removed the goggles from his head and tied the Konoha hitai-ite to his head. "Alright you can open your eyes now. Congratulations, to the _both_ of you, on passing. You have shown tremendous skill and courage here today! I'm very proud of you guys."

"I think we should celebrate this moment with some ramen!" Kagome cheerily announced.

"Hai, I'll buy you _one_ bowl of ramen each!" Iruka said laughing and patting the two children on the back, who had tackled him, hugging him tightly around the waist.

* * *

If you could create a jutsu or a weapon what would it be and what would it do?

Best review for the last chapter: yorushihe


	14. Test

Pages: 10

Words: 5, 205

Chapter fourteen: Test

* * *

"Ebisu-san arigato for coming I have some matters to discuss with you. I hope I'm not taking you away from training your squad members."

"Hai, you requested to see me Hokage-sama? Iie, my squad members are perfectly capable in training themselves with or without me there. I have been teaching those two shinobi all the skills they need to know to become as successful as I am. They are quite blessed to have such a highly skilled Jounin instructor looking over their fragile young inexperienced shoulders." Ebisu appeared in the room with a puff of smoke.

"That's good to hear Ebisu-san. I want to give you another student today, since you are so capable, to see if she can be added to your squad. Last night it was decided she would graduate. So she will be behind your other squad members. However you know the Chuunin exam is coming up this year and you are only permitted to enter with a team of three." Sarutobi replied. He originally planned to make the Jounin his grandson's tutor, but he changed his mind when he figured out, after of the birth of his grandson, from the scores the academy sent him that there were going to be more students graduating the year before Naruto, hopefully, did.

"Last night you mean-?" Ebisu pushed the sunglasses he always wore back up the bridge of his nose, out of habit, even if they weren't sliding down his face.

"She was involved with the missing scroll incident because she didn't want to graduate."

"What do you mean by didn't want to graduate? That's the only reason why children attend the academy for, so they can graduate and get a Konoha hitai-ite." Ebisu was slightly confused, what sort of child was the Hokage dumping into his lap? He already had a strange team of two. There was a freakishly strong girl who relied mainly on taijutsu and was a weapon specialist. But she had poor ninjutsu skills and chakra control. The other was a boy who was easily distracted by girls, wasn't as strong in taijutsu but excelled in genjutsu, charka control and had the Kazaana, a Kekkei genkai that Ebisu had never heard of before, in his right hand. Miroku often used spiritually infused or reiki infused papers called ofudas and there was Kirara, Sango's two tailed fire neko who would turn into a fearsome beast in a blink of an eye and not to mention the neko could fly. He had almost had two accidents in his pants the first time he saw the small kawaii neko transform.

"Iie, this girl is different. She could easily perform the graduation jutsu perfectly in class. In fact she excelled in that area. Out of the twenty seven graduated she came out ranking fourth, she managed to surpass Haruno, Sakura by two percent. Anyways the girl I want to put on your team had heard that Naruto didn't graduate. Because of that she didn't want to either since she is such a loyal friend to him. Mizuki was the one responsible for tricking the children into stealing the scroll of sealing and the rest, as you know, is history."

"What's her name?"

"Higurashi, Kagome. When she was six she attended the academy for a short while, until a woman I was familiar with and Kagome-kun recognized her too calling her 'Obaa-chan' asked if she could take Kagome-kun and train her reiki powers. You are familiar with reiki, with Miroku-chan on your squad. Well her reiki powers greatly surpass his, on a whole new level. She was trained in solitude by the old woman, only allowed to visit the friends she had already made here every so often. I allowed Sango-chan and Miroku-chan to visit her on their short breaks in between switching academy levels. I had you postpone testing your first new team in their teamwork because the old woman, with my deepest regrets passed away. I had Kagome-kun move back here and attend the academy again at the level she would have been at, had I not allowed her to leave the village. She remarkably showed no signs of struggling with the curriculum. If she had I would have dropped an academy level or perhaps I would have given her a tutor."

"You mean to say that Sango-chan and Miroku-chan already know this girl?" Ebisu asked wondering how he was going to test the team on teamwork with a girl they already knew. Maybe he would just test the girl separately from the rest of his squad or he would think up of something. However she was that _youkai's_ friend so maybe he would have her fight him by herself and if, more like when, she failed he would send her back to the academy.

"I do, she lives with them. They were all brought here to Konoha by Hatake, Kakashi they were the only survivors of their village attack."

"Alright, I'll take this Higurashi, Kagome under my wing!"

"I have to warn you though, since she hangs out around Naruto-kun, she's become quite the troublemaker and I'm not sure what other things her 'Obaa-chan' taught her other than to control her reiki, but this girl seems to be very promising in becoming a strong shinobi."

"Ho hoho….I'll direct her off that troublemaking pathway she's been led on. You can count on me Hokage-sama. Once I'm done with her she will be a model citizen of our wondrous village, so when do I get to meet this Higurashi, Kagome?"

"I've already have a shinobi on his way to inform her. Ebisu-san I have a favor to ask of you. I would like you to go find my grandson. He ran off with Naruto earlier this morning and hasn't come back yet."

"Don't worry I'll retrieve your grandson from _that boy's _clutches unharmed." Ebisu said with his eyes narrowed and in a puff of smoke he was gone.

'He has such distain and for Naruto like all the other villagers….Kagome will definitely not have any respect towards Ebisu if he acts that way about Naruto in front of her. She really is a one of a kind….' Sarutobi mused to himself as he watched the Jounin leave his office. 'Maybe I should have warned Ebisu- Iie, he needs to learn this lesson on his own, even if that lesson is taught to him by an eleven year old. I am eager to see what she learned while away from the village.'

* * *

_Knock. Knock. Knock. _

"Sumimasen, onegai [excuse me, please] open up I have a letter from the Sandaime for a Higurashi, Kagome! Is anyone there?" The shinobi was getting impatient. He had been probably standing outside this apartment door for thirty minutes. He had to deliver this message! It was a direct order from the Hokage himself! The shinobi paced around outside the beaten looking door for five minutes before banging on it again. "Sumimasen! Open up!"

"Oi Mister what are you doing?" A small girl asked looking at him with big blue eyes.

"I have a message to give to a Higurashi, Kagome. I was told that this is where she lives and I have been out here for thirty five minutes waiting to deliver it!"

"Gomen, I had to have my picture taken this morning since I graduated yesterday," Kagome said sticking her tongue out the side of her mouth the hitai-ite she had received was loosely tied around her neck. "So what's the message?"

"Oh thank Kami!" The shinobi yelled looking up at the ceiling before looking back at the person he had to deliver the message to. "Here follow the instructions that are written in the letter I have no time to read them to you. I have other things to do!"

"Hey Kagome! What are you doing here?" A wet Sango asked, her body slowly sinking down into the river. She cursed and tried to regulate the Chakra on her feet but ended up being dunked into the water, again. "Urusai Miroku! Just because you've already accomplished this stupid training exercise a long time ago doesn't mean you can laugh at me!"

'I followed the instructions given to me on this scroll. So why did it lead me to Sango and Miroku? I thought the scroll said that this would be the Shinobi team I was placed in- wait…does this mean-?' Kagome looked at the unraveled scroll in her hand again then she looked up at Sango and Miroku. Then back at the scroll, then two her bickering friends, the scroll, her friends, scroll, friends until it had clicked.

"Ha ha, well I'd rather be doing that exercise then being forced to punch this hunk of wood," Miroku answered rubbing his sore raw knuckles after hitting the wood again. "Honestly I'm not going to be able to destroy this log by the week of today at this rate. I don't know how or why you _choose _to do this every day Sango!"

"I think I've been assigned to your squad!" Kagome said happily jumping up and down laughing at their shocked expressions on their faces. Sango accidentally submerged herself completely under water and Miroku punched himself across the face.

"NANI?" They both yelled once they had regained their bearings, startling the nesting birds in the trees around them straight into the skies.

"Un! Read this!"

Miroku the person, who was closer and most importantly dry, grabbed the letter Kagome was waving around in her hands. "I-it's true! But I think before you are officially accepted as a member on the team Ebisu-sensei will want to test you."

"Not another one of those, I'm going to send you back to the academy if you're not able too- things," Sango said rolling her eyes as she dragged her soaking wet body onto the shore and squeezed the water out from her hair before sighing. She then stepped back onto the water balancing for a longer time before toppling over backwards into the river again.

"Last time he didn't know Sango and I knew each other so he tested us on teamwork. I'm sure this time he'll find out that we all know each other. He might just do another one of those 'I'm going to try and scare you by threatening to send you back to the academy' tests Sango was talking about." Miroku pondered out loud holding onto his chin.

"You're doing that weird think again where you talk to yourself and hold your chin. You're going to get acne there if you don't stop." Sango said spitting out small fountain water from her mouth as she stood in the center of the river.

"ACNE, oh no oh no, I can't have acne! Girl's don't like guys with acne on their faces!" Miroku said rushing over to the river so he could look at his reflection to see if any blemish had popped out from his well cared for skin. He wore a cucumber and avocado mask at least once a week to keep his face well hydrated and looking soft to the touch.

"Mou….Guys where is your sensei anyways?" Kagome asked she was actually kind of curious to finally put a face to the name. She had heard about 'Ebisu-sensei' from stories Miroku and Sango told her when they did those missions that sounded so exciting.

"I was wondering where he was too…he just disappeared, one moment he was there telling us what we had to work on next thing I knew he was gone," Sango said shrugging her shoulders. "He'll come back eventually. Until then you can practice walking on water with me because it's just so gosh darn fun to fall into the water all the time."

"Okay I'll do it at least it's something to do so I won't get bored, so what is it I have to do?"

"If you really want to practice that exercise Kagome you should start off learning to walk up a tree first. That's where we started off, we didn't just start walking on water like that, and the training exercise teaches you how to control your charka! Bringing out a specific amount to a certain area of your body, in this case it's your feet. Ebisu-sensei told us that this skill can be even difficult to master for a skilled ninja, since the amount of chakra needed to keep your feet attached to any surface is small but it must be exact," Miroku had turned around and closed his eyes as he recited the information. "It's said that the bottom of your feet is the most difficult area on your entire body to gather your-"

"This doesn't seem hard at all! Ha ha look at me I'm walking on water!" Kagome jumped up and down on the liquid surface only when she deicide to do a cartwheel she forgot to put chakra on the palms of her hands so she ended up dunking her upper body into the water. She spat out a mouthful of water before talking. "Bleh! Anyways this is so cool! This is so much better than those painful training exercises Obaa-chan always made me do! Whoopie!"

"Nani?" Miroku and Sango yelled in unison watching the half wet girl easily dancing around on the water for the first time

"Even _you_ got soaked Miroku the first time you did this exercise but it wasn't because you were trying to do a cartwheel and forgot to attach Chakra to your hands."

"…She skipped right over the tree exercise and went straight to the hardest one there is, unless there is a fire walking one of these, I'm sure that one would be the hardest. No wait, I believe there is one where you use your chakra to control the air…" Miroku said he knew it had to be because of all the time Kagome spent training with their Obaa-chan.

"How did she do that?" Sango asked in amazement, Kagome was just walking along the length of the river making faces to scare the fish below her.

"Kagome's a master at controlling her reiki, that's why. She has to have more than perfect control over it and to be able to gather it at any part of her body like it was second nature to her. Otherwise the reiki could and it has exploded back into her face. Reiki is a lot more difficult to handle but with Obaa-chan's harsh training Kagome is able to do it with extreme ease. On the other hand, if she finds her reiki easy to use, then using her chakra- well it must be a joke to her." Miroku told Sango as they watched the small girl they were watching in awe.

"That was fun but I want to go do something more exciting than this." Kagome said looking at her feet and reflection in the water before walking back to where her friends where standing.

"You could try and climb to the highest branch on that tree over there," Sango said as he pointed to the tree that she had spent an entire four grueling long weeks trying to climb. "If you need some momentum you can run at it."

"Hai!" Kagome saluted walking over to the tree Sango had pointed at looking at the base of it she placed her foot on the trunk of the tree and then backed up and ran up the entire length of the tree. 'This is kind of like when Obaa-chan had Kirara placed me on top of a tree trunk then tied my hands and feet directly onto eight thick wooden poles she stuck in the ground around me. Then said until I was able to use my reiki to blast my way out I was going to have to stay there. I didn't get to eat a proper meal for two and a half weeks…Kirara saved me by bringing scraps.'

"She's not having any troubles at all." Sango said breathlessly as Kagome was hidden away by the branches of the tallest tree in the entire training area.

"See and you didn't believe me! I told you it has to do with her being able to control her reiki," Miroku said going back to kicking and punching the log, if Ebisu-sensei came back and saw that they weren't doing what he asked them to do he'd give them a big boring lecture about slackers and what happens to Shinobi who slack. "That's why I happen to have excellent Chakra control too. Obaa-chan trained me how to use my reiki also, so my chakra just comes naturally."

"You look two look so itty bitty from way up here!" Kagome said as a giant grin spread across her face, she started sliding off the slippery surface of the branch. "Uh oh!"

"Kagome!" Sango yelled her eyes wide open in fear, if she fell from that height she could die!

"Just kidding, I'm not going to fall!" She dangled upside down on the underside of the branch swinging back and forth.

"Yo-You did that on purpose! You're such a little gaki Kagome get down here right now!" Sango yelled clenching a fist to the side of her face when she thought Kagome was going to fall that had made her heart skip a beat, thinking about Kagome falling had really had frightened her.

"No need to yell at me when I can hear you perfectly fine," She grumbled jumping from branch to branch until she landed safely on the ground then throwing her hands behind her head she looked at Sango and said, "Obaa-chan taught me how to do something similar to that, cept she could always find a way to make it more painful."

"I better get back to practicing walking on water. I have a feeling that Ebisu-sensei is going to return any second now and just as I was starting to get dry too…." Sango said making her way back to the river glaring down at her liquid tormentor. She swore to herself that she was going to be completed this exercise by the very end of the week, at the very most.

"Ebisu-san why do you have two bloody pieces of tissue shoved up your nostrils?" Kagome said slyly sliding her way over to the strange looking man who wore his Konoha hitai-ite like that Mizuki guy. He also had sunglasses that were just too circular for her taste.

"That's none of your business!" Ebisu roared, that _boy _had embarrassed him in front of the Hokage-sama's grandson! Not only that, but _demon gaki_ had taught Konohamaru-san such an obscene jutsu and then combined that dumb jutsu with the Kage Bushin no jutsu into something _he_ created and called the 'Harem no jutsu' which was a bunch of naked girls.

'I don't like the way his eyes are looking at me…they're hard and cold. They're the same eyes…. the villagers look at Naru-kun calling him all those hurtful names.' Kagome's face became strangely expressionless for the girl who had been so animated only moments ago.

"So you're Higurashi, Kagome correct?" He asked Kagome pushing up his glasses that had slid down his nose. While thinking about the reason he had to shove the tissue up his nostrils. It was all of that _boy's_ fault using such a jutsu that made many blonde naked girls appear out of thin air. How could this normal looking girl be a friend to _that_ he might just never understand? The two were on complete opposite sides from each other when it came to the academy _Naruto_ came out as the person with the lowest scores, while she was able to rank fourth out of the twenty seven graduates, Uchiha, Sasuke ranked first place followed by Aburame, Shino then Hyuuga, Hinata finally Higurashi, Kagome.

"Hai."

"And you're Naurto-kun's friend, are you?" Ebisu had to ask to see if what the Hokage had told him was true or if he had been just pulling his leg.

"Un! Naru-kun is one of my _best_ friends and I am his." Kagome said with her head tilted slightly to the side, she did not liking the tone this man was talking, one bit. It made her reiki bubble beneath her skin and that was never a good sign since. Her Obaa-chan had warned her if she didn't control her reiki from lashing out it would lash back at her and cause her bodily harm. Those wounds would heal like a regular person would since they were caused by her own power. Another thing she found out was that she could heal a lot faster than regular people. This came in handy whenever her Obaa-chan decided to hurt her or she got hurt doing a training exercise her Obaa-chan had made up.

Even Sango and Miroku had picked up the odd behavior Kagome was displaying right now. They had stopped their training exercises all together, now that they thought about it Ebisu-sensei was acting a lot different than he normally did too. Both of their behaviors greatly confused them and what was with Ebisu-sensei suddenly asking about Naruto? Nothing was making sense anymore.

"Sou desu ka [Is that so]?" Ebisu looked down at the rather short girl maybe the Hokage was wrong about her being a promising shinobi. She was shorter than average children her age like that _Naruto gaki_ and overall, in his opinion, she just didn't appear to be very strong either.

"Hai is that a _problem_ Ebisu-san?" She was just sick and tired of everyone treating her friend like he was the fox youkai when he clearly wasn't! Everyone was lucky _she _didn't have the burden of having a sealed fox youkai inside of her. If it had been her she might have gone berserk and released it and torn everybody into shreds by now.

"_Iie,_ Kagome-kun."

"What's with this suffocating atmosphere?" Miroku asked laughing nervously as he used his hands to fan at his face.

"It's nothing Miroku-chan, you should get back to training. Remember I told you that I wasn't letting you go home today until that log has at least dents starting to form in it! You've been working on the same one for nine days now if my calculations are correct and you have been doing the training exercises I asked you to do you should break the one you're on in the next few days." Ebisu said turning away from the girl the Hokage wanted to put onto his team.

"Ebisu-sensei how are you going to test Kagome to see if she can be placed into our squad, it can't be that simple, you're not just going to allow her to join are you? What are you going to make her do?" Sango questioned suspiciously at she suspended herself over the water for a good ten seconds before she slowly sank to the very bottom.

"You're right Sango-chan I can't just let Kagome-kun join. She needs to be tested it's only fair all other graduating shinobi are," Ebisu said as he turned back to face Kagome who was still looking at him devoid of any emotion. "I'm going to give you the same test that I gave them. You are going to have to take my glasses off of my face in order for you to pass. They are not allowed to help you otherwise it's an automatic fail and I have to send you back to the academy."

"Nani? Ebisu-sensei that hardly seems fair at all, there were two of us against you not including Kirara! There's only one of Kagome-" Miroku was shocked that Ebisu-sensei had come up with such a ridiculous test.

"Kagome-kun has to do it and that's final! I'll give her a choice, she can quit now and go back to the academy or she can stay here which mean she has chosen to fight me and have a _chance_ on joining my squad." Ebisu said crossing his arms over his chest.

"This is absurd and you know it sensei! Did she pull one of her pranks on you or something? Just what kind of vendetta do you have against Kagome?" Sango yelled jumping out of the water soaking wet, pointing her finger at him her brown eyes flashing angrily.

"I have nothing against _her_, she does however need to be tested today because tomorrow I am leaving on that mission which was assigned to me that I told you guys I had." Ebisu answered, Sango and Miroku appeared to be really loyal to Kagome that was good sign.

"Guys you don't have to worry 'bout me. I'm going to have no problem kicking your ass Ebisu-san! And all of your training exercises look like their completely lame, laaaaaame, lame! My Obaa-chan invents better ones in her sleep than those ones," Kagome said pulling the flesh underneath her eye down and blew a giant raspberry in his direction intentionally spraying her spit all over him. "So how much time to I have to kick your butt?"

"GA-GAKI!" Ebisu cried wiping his face dry. Then he pulled out a timer and set it down on a tree stump. "I'll give you until dinner time-"

Kagome's stomach grumbled at the mention of food and she frowned, "Oi Ebisu-san do you promise me that you'll treat me to all the ramen I want from Ichiraku Ramen if I manage to get those glasses off of your face?"

"Huh?" 'What kind of request is this kid making? Oh well it doesn't matter, she won't be able to defeat me after all I'm a Jounin and she's just a mere Genin.' "Hah aha fine I promise-"

'He…really…doesn't know what he's getting himself into…' Miroku thought already imagining all the empty ramen bowls piling up and the bank breaking tear jerking cost of the bill. 'Kagome I know that you can beat him, you've probably become stronger and a force to reckon with all of Obaa-chan's violent training methods, I believe you can defeat him Kagome!'

'He'll surely be broke, when Kagome's done…that is if she can beat him, I really hope she does. He's much stronger then he looks, but then again so are you Kagome.' Realization flickered across Sango's face. She knew what Kagome was doing! She was motivated herself to win, with food on the line she was going to be fighting the hardest she could.

"-but if you fail, not only do you have to go back to the academy but you won't be allowed to become a shinobi _ever_." Ebisu said with his eyes closed allowing himself to raise the stakes higher than he had ever before. He could make an exception for the _demon's_ friend.

"Did you say something after you said you promised me to buy me all the ramen I wanted when I won?" Kagome asked innocently looking confused after she pulled her pinky out of her ear.

'This gaki- was cleaning her ear out and not paying any attention to me when I was talking?' Ebisu raged in his head this girl really knew how to push a person's buttons. "AHEM as I was saying you have until dinner time to get my glasses, if you win I promise you on my shinobi title itself that I'll buy you all the ramen that you can eat, but if you fail you'll quit being a shinobi-"

"I'm hungry now…." Kagome whined clutching her aching stomach interrupting Ebisu she held out her fingers unintentionally in the shape a W. "Three hours!"

"Nani?" Ebisu didn't understand what this kid was getting at.

"I'm not going to go easy on you, I'm going full out! So three hours," Kagome sat on the ground before patting down her body….she supposed it wasn't very smart that she wasn't carrying around any weapons… "Sango, can I borrow your stuff?"

"You mean you're just walking around unarmed even when those instructions given to you said 'bring all your shinobi tools' you didn't think to grab your weapons?" Sango asked angrily as she removed her pouches off of her body. "What ever happened to those Kunai and Shuriken I made especially for you? Are they just sitting around and collecting dust, or what?"

'HOW DARE SHE IGNORE ME!' Ebisu cried out in his head opening and closing his jaw.

"I left them at home because have nothing to carry them around in and I don't want them to get damaged!" Kagome said as she attached the pouches to her body then pulled out a Kunai she was twirling it around on her finger trying to decide whether she should cut off the bandages that covered her weights or not.

'What is Kagome thinking right now?" Miroku wondered then realized, she must be taking the fight really seriously if she was contemplating taking off all her weights. Their Obaa-chan had told them to keep them on because they would be mostly fighting youkai and most youkai were a lot faster and stronger than regular shinobi she said that some were even faster than the best shinobi there was, without even trying. She told them that if they wanted to be able to keep up with youkai they had to wear weights to make their muscles strong.

'Nah, he's not worth it.' Kagome thought replacing the kunai back into its pouch.

"Kagome-_kun_ what were you saying about three hours?" Ebisu asked his face have a spasm from all the stress this one small girl was giving him.

"Oh right, I say in three hours _or less_ I will have your glasses in my possession and then you will have to treat me to all the ramen I want and you know why that is?" She said with a massive grin on her face giving him no time to respond to her question. "It's because you're going to lose!"

"You're very confident for someone so short, how old are you again?"

"…what do you expect I'm only eleven years old!" Kagome yelled failing her arms around.

'_Eleven_? This girl is a year _younger_ than the rest of the shinobi that graduated this year and she still somehow managed to rank fourth, that's pretty incredible for someone who is stupid enough to actually become _friends_ with that _demon _boy.' Ebisu looked the girl over again pushing his glasses up his nose. 'Looks like the tables have turned, who's annoying who now?' He thought. "Well you're still puny, even for an eleven year old kid."

"That's it I'm going to kick your ass, right now and when I get those glasses of yours I'm going to crush them, and that's a promise I'm going to make to you, just you wait and see!" Kagome growled sliding down into a fighting position her eyes glaring through Ebisu's glasses and into his cold hard eyes. 'It's that look in his eyes again!'

"You like to talk big don't you? Fine we'll have it your way I'll set three hours on the clock. You know what's at stake and I have Miroku-chan and Sango-chan as my witnesses," Ebisu said turning his back to Kagome and turning the dial on his timer. "Okay three hours are now on the clock are you ready?"

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What's the most challenging thing you've had to do?

Best reviews for the last chapter: ChocolateBunnyChan & yorushihe


	15. Do I Pass?

Pages: 10

Words: 5, 371

Chapter Fifteen- Do I pass?

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Without missing a heartbeat Kagome dashed towards the over confident shinobi. She infused her fist with reiki and swung it forwards and punched Ebisu in the chest. It was hard enough to make the grown man get tossed backwards. 'This kid is not only fast, but that punch almost hurt as much as Sango's punches did almost a year ago, when I had them do the exact same test. What? She's even managed to stun my body momentarily. Was it because of that sudden attack or is it because she was using her reiki?' Ebisu thought as he flipped his body over in mid air and dug his heels into the ground while he slid backwards disappearing into the foliage. 'I bet it was because of the reiki I've never felt anything like this before.'

"Where'd you go?" Kagome called looking before in the direction of Sango and Miroku for help. She didn't punch him hard enough to cause internal damage- yet.

"You shouldn't be so easily distracted!" Ebisu said jumping down from the tree above her. He punched the girl right across the face, looking shocked when she disappeared with a pop then a smirk flicked across his face. Then he too also disappeared with a pop.

"They were both clones…?" Sango said turning to Miroku with a questioning look on her face.

"Didn't you see Kagome make the hand signs when Ebisu-sensei turned his back to set the timer? And then when Ebisu-sensei skidded backwards, he was hidden behind those trees he must have cloned himself at that point. " Miroku stated looking around the now quiet training area for any signs of fighting.

"So that gaki must have learned that technique from the scroll _the demon gaki_ stole. So know she knows how to do the Kage Bushin no jutsu, which is a Jounin level jutsu." The real Ebisu muttered to himself as he perched himself up on a branch rubbing the spot the girl had punched, it had really hurt and- that was just her clone. It wasn't even her!

"Un, she does," Kagome whispered into his ear. She could easily sense where Ebisu had gone. Quickly she darted away before he even had time to turn in the direction she had whispered to him. Only Ebisu had guessed were she was going to land and punched her hard right across the face, this time for real. "Itai!"

"Taijutsu." He jumped over her leg that's aim was to knock him off his feet. Ebisu flipped over her in the air and kicked her in the side. She couldn't block it because she was using her two hands to flip her body over on the tree branch. The next punch Kagome had sent for his head was dodged and he grabbed her arm and painfully twisted it around, placing a foot on her back to keeping her from escaping making her grunted in pain. To escape his vice like grip she used her free hand and wrapped it tightly around his ankle sending a bolt of pure reiki into his system. This caused him to momentarily loosen the muscles in his hands. It gave her just enough time to escape and darted behind him. Yet he twirled around dealing a swift blow as his foot connected with her body in the abdominal area.

Ebisu then moved to the side again as he felt Kagome swing her leg out to kick him. He used her own momentum to flip her over. And as she was falling towards the ground below he jumped down and swung his leg around and kicked her in her abdomen, again, this time sending her flying into the dirt, her body rolled around a couple of times before she could stop. She spat on the ground and wiped at her mouth before running at him again. This time she darted left then right before swinging around and kicking the side of his right kneecap. As he fell to the ground she kicked him in the back. While Ebisu found that he was skidding backwards kicking up a big dust cloud he made multiple Kage Bushin clones of himself. He thought perhaps he would be able to distract her since she'd be too busy trying to figure out which one was the real him all the while the real him actually got away. Ebisu struggled to keep himself standing; whenever he was hit with her reiki it pained him greatly to move that part of his body. Where had she-? His clones and the real him looked all around then looked up.

Kagome hung from the branch right above him with a big grin on her face as she started going through the series of hand signs prior to her placing her hand to her mouth. She could pry the melted plastic off of his face if she had to. "_Katon goukakyuu no jutsu_! [Grand Fireball]"

'Sh-she shouldn't have enough chakra to be able to use it properly! She's just a genin!' Ebisu's glasses teetered dangerously at the end of his nose when he realized he had no time to get out of the way he had to protect himself, this gaki really wasn't fooling around. He was just able to finish the hand signs and drew the moisture out from the air around him, which wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do when it hadn't rained in Konoha in months. He supposed he was lucky there was a river nearby. "_Suiton Suijinheki __no jutsu_! [Water Bullet] and spat out immense orbs of water to douse the flames before the whole forest was set on fire. He had even had to rely on his Kage Bushin's he had summoned to help him put out the fire.

He jumped into a tree to help hide his body as he put some distance in between the girl and him. What he didn't know was that Kagome could easily spot the real him because he was the one with the aura, Kage Bushin clones didn't have one. Springing into the air sending reiki to her right leg she brought it down on his head only to have her attack blocked by his two crossed arms. Doing a back handspring off the branch they were just barely sharing, she almost toppled out of the tree but managed to cling on using her chakra. She didn't bother looking back at the spot where Ebisu had been she already knew that he had run off. Sensing where people where really came in handy 'where ever you are Obaa-chan right now, arigato gozaimashita! [Thank you very much!]'

She slid into a clearing slightly panting and rather dirty, while three Ebisu clones all used their middle fingers to push their glasses on their faces. They were ready waiting to attack her she just laughed. Kagome drew out a kunai and opened a can of whoop ass on all the clones spinning around, jumping over, sliding under but eventually slicing through all them grinning when they screamed and disappeared in a pop. "There's no point in running away and making all these clones of yourself Ebisu-san I know exactly where you are!" Pulling out a bone Shuriken she threw it into the trees.

_Thunk._ The real Ebisu looked in the direction that the Shuriken had landed in 'she was wro-' he didn't have time to even finish his thought as the girl had kicked him the back of the head 'it was a distraction!' and his felt his glasses slowly slipping off of his face until they were air born he reached out to grab them only for him to feel the girl's reiki coated hands digging into his shoulders prior to her swinging his entire body up over her head then throwing him harshly towards the ground. His arms had just gained back their feeling too, from when he had blocked the kick that she had intended to smash onto his head. Her fighting style was not only fast but the reiki blows that she managed to land caused extra damage.

While in the air Ebisu managed to kick his falling glasses towards himself and grab them with his teeth, his lips where wrapped around one of the circular lenses. He grunted when he found out that he couldn't move his shoulders because they were currently stunned. Ebisu landed on one of his knees grunting again as he stood up making a run for it only to be stopped by Kagome who swiftly was kicked him in both the shoulders. He swung his leg around kicked her in the side then he brought out his other leg and kicked her again in the side and then once more in her stomach area. He knew that spot had to be tender from all the previous attacks.

He quickly dashed away before she could recover from the blows to her body. Ebisu snorted out of anger. He knew needed to get the feeling in his arms back before facing that girl again. With his arms like this he couldn't do any hand signs or use his arm to defend his precious beautiful face from being attacked. Once that happened he would be ready this time, he wasn't going to underestimate her because by now he already knew most of her attacks and her attack style. He hissed to himself as he slid into a clearing, "I'm not going to let some friend to _Naruto_ pass any test of mine."

"Ebisu-san why do you hate Naru-kun so much, I just don't get it!" Kagome yelled easily finding him again. She was getting really angry and that caused her reiki to slowly starting swirling around her entire body. "Everyone thinks he's a baka. He's really smart he comes up with amazing pranks and for the most part he never gets caught! He had to grow up without any parents. That _changes_ you Ebisu-san did you have parents there to take care of you? I know I had a loving Kaa-san, otouto and Jii-chan before they were killed. Naru-kun grew up without having _any_ of that," The blue reiki was picking up speed as it circled around her body even more. "You think he's is the fox youkai don't you? ANSWER ME!"

"…Hai I do." Ebisu couldn't move it was as if his feet were glued to the spot he swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat making sure he still had his glasses securely clenched in between his teeth so the girl couldn't make a grab for them without him knowing. He had a feeling she wasn't going to try it though…

"I know you do. Whenever you talk about him you get a look in your eyes! I hate it! I want you to understand that Naru-kun _isn't_ the fox-youkai that destroyed Konoha because the youkai is _sealed_ inside of his body! I've met many youkai before, good and bad. Would the fox youkai bother to become friends with anybody _or_ save Iruka-sensei _or _willingly give back that scroll of sealing? IIE IT PROBABLY WOULDN'T HAVE! PUT YOURSELF IN HIS POSITION! I know what I would have done if I were the one that fox youkai was sealed into. You'd all be dead! But Naru-kun has to live with that fox youkai so that the rest of you ungrateful people are kept alive, how can you hate a person like that? I don't even care about this stupid test of yours anymore! I don't care if I can never become a shinobi I just want one less person to stop hating Naru-kun because they think he's a horrible bloodthirsty youkai. Without even taking the time to try and to get to know the _real_ him! Inside he's just a regular kid like me!" Kagome couldn't stop herself from yelling at him. Her hair was being thrashed violently around by the powerful gust of winds that came off of the dangerous energy rapidly whipping around her body.

'All this power- I can't believe it's coming off of this one small girl…even now she- doesn't feel as powerful as the energy around her…I thought that only jounin and ANBU know how to suppress their energies. This needs to stop right away otherwise her powers will destroy this entire training area!'

"You know what? I can't stand people like you Ebisu-san!" Kagome yelled with her eyes closed as she ignored the ache of her own power starting to painfully lash back at her own body because it wasn't being told where to go or molded properly, this was her reiki in one of the rawest of forms. The light coming from her energy could easily be seen glowing brightly over the tree tops.

"Kagome-kun I understand now Naruto isn't the youkai," Ebisu hurriedly said tossing his glasses off to the side, as it was impairing his speech. He was slowly starting to understand what the girl was feeling and why she felt that way, now that he had a little more time for everything she said to sink in. "You're just trying to protect your friend."

"Un…do you really mean it when you said that you don't believe Naru-kun isn't the youkai that destroyed the village?" Kagome breathed deeply letting some of her anger die down, her reiki stopped lashing back at her body but was still dangerously whipping around breaking off the branches of nearby trees and hurling them in any direction like a mini tornado would. There was some truth to what he was saying, he wasn't being completely honest but it was a start.

"I do." Ebisu said he truly felt bad there was always a reason for people, even if it was Naruto, for acting the way they did. He supposed if he had grown up the way Naruto did and had people like himself (Ebisu) like Kagome had admitted; he too would have probably gone on a killing spree.

"You mean it?" Kagome questioned as the energy around her had almost completely dissipated while she slowly collapsed to her knees.

"Hai Kagome-kun. I get it now, what the Hokage-sama, Iruka-sensei and you see in Naruto-kun he's not a youkai he's just a boy who wants people to acknowledge his existence," Ebisu said kneeling to the ground and gently placing his hand on Kagome's shoulder only to have her roll away. "I wasn't going to try and hurt-?"

"I got 'em." She said victoriously as she clutched his glasses in her right hand and crushed them, the bent wire and tinted shards fell onto the glass. Just like she had promised just like she would. She managed to stick her tongue out at him before her eyes fluttered shut and her small body collapsed forward onto the dirt ground.

_Ring. Ring. Ring_

'She really did keep her promise and she does have a lot of potential.' Ebisu said dropping to the ground next to her placing his arms on top of his knees as he sat there enjoying the small breeze that went by. "Gomen, I see now that you were right about them Hokage-sama."

'That Ebisu…,' Sarutobi thought holding his head in his hands as he stared into the crystal ball; he was seated at the very end of his seat, he had watched the entire thing. 'Just what did Kagome-kun's Obaa-chan teach that girl? Oh well, it's too late to ask that old woman now."

* * *

"Sasuke, look what I found it's your Kaa-san's old camera it only has two pictures left on the-" Kagome quickly snapped the trigger button of the camera twice as she laughed. Now she was glad she had come to the academy today. "I didn't know that is how you guys felt that way about each other!"

She had just been at his house because she wanted to drop of a basket of freshly baked rolls. Miroku had made way too many and even with Sango, Kirara, Naruto and her eating them they couldn't possibly eat them all before they went stale. And that was saying something because Naruto and herself were professional eating machines! So once at Sasuke's house she was searching through the cabinets for some paper to write him a note BAM there was the camera!

"Nee-san?" Naruto unclenched his hands from around his own neck, when he had locked lips with his rival, Naruto eyes widened when he looked at her.

"What happened to you?" Sasuke asked his eyes quickly looking over Kagome's dirty clothes and the fresh visible giant bruises that were all over her arms and legs 'what sort of weapon could leave those sorts of marks behind on a person?' His concern for her well being caused him to momentarily forgot what Naruto did to him and that Kagome had managed to take pictures of it.

"Opps, I wanted to get here as quickly as I could I must have put on yesterday's clothes. Ha ha ha it's nothing really," Kagome said rubbing her left arm sheepishly she needed to toss these clothes when she got home, they were ruined anyways. "I'm fine."

"NA-RU-TO!" A horde of angry girl's yelled cracking their knuckles.

"Hey do you guys remember me?…Cause I remember all of you. You made Kirara very upset by crushing her bells and I haven't been able to keep my promise I made to her because I haven't been able to find her new bells." Kagome said spinning around on the ball of her foot turning around holding her hands out making it look like she had set them on fire with a blue flame by using her reiki making it burn brighter as she waved them around making the girls disperse and sent them scurrying away.

"What's that piece of paper sticking out of your pocket?" Naruto asked he had felt Kagome's whatever she called it again, that energy she was using now it always made him feel so uneasy. After awhile though he got use to it, he just never wanted to be _touched_ by it though. Naruto grabbed the paper laughing as he held it high in the air waving it around in victory only to have it snatched back by Kagome and he pouted.

'(On the honor of my title as a true valiant shinobi I will keep my promise to treat you to as much ramen as you can eat when I return back from my mission. Congratulations on passing and welcome to my squad. Ebisu-sensei) that's right he owes me! He he he!' Kagome shoved the note down her shirt. As she did the camera swinging around her wrist caught both boys attention remembering the two flashes when they were-? When they had-?

"Hand me the camera over to me Kagome." Sasuke said quickly making a grab for it only to have her sway to the side and dodge his attempt.

"IIE NEE-SAN GIVE ME THE CAMERA FIRST!" Naruto said intending to tackle her to the ground and get it before Sasuke could so he could rub the small victory in his rival's face but instead it was his (Naruto's) face that whacked against the end of a desk.

"What's all the noise in here for? Kagome-kun why are you here today shouldn't you be training with your Jounin instructor?" Iruka asked stepping into his classroom, he had heard she did remarkably well when she completed Ebisu's test and had even managed to change the stubborn Jounin's views on Naruto.

"Iie he's been sent on a mission so I decided to come here today because I wanted to see on what teams Naru-kun and Sasuke were placed on since I know that I can't be on either of their teams." Kagome whined lightly holding Naruto's head down with her foot as he tried to grab at the camera again 'I'm going to get these developed as soon as I can.'

"Okay, if I show you what team they're on do you promise to keep it quiet and go home?" Iruka asked waving around his clipboard. After what happened yesterday she really should be at home or even in the hospital recovering.

"Un I promise!" Kagome said skipping down the steps to the front of the class.

Iruka pointed to his clipboard that had the squads written down on it, he held his finger on the group titled team seven which consisted of Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke. "Alright now go home and get some well deserved rest. I heard how you did I'm proud that you were able to pass Kagome-kun you really have a bright future as a shinobi ahead of you."

"Un I'm going to get these pictures developed I'll see you around Iruka-sensei arigato for everything," Kagome hugged Iruka around the waist before running out she ran out laughing she stuck an 'I'm a baka' sign to his back. "I'll see you guys later!"

* * *

'I have to wait an hour for those pictures to be developed. I can't wait I'm so excited.' Kagome thought to herself as she entered into her apartment where she was greeted by Sango and Miroku who looked like they had been waiting for her to get back.

"We got you a little something Kagome it's nothing fancy," Sango said placing a small box into the younger girl's hands. "Go ahead and open it!"

"It's a congratulations present for being able to beat up Ebisu-sensei." Miroku said with a grin.

"Hey it's a kunai and shuriken holder already filled up with the kunai and shuriken you made Sango, and one of those nifty brown pouches but in a navy blue color! You guys are the best." She said while she hugged them both around their necks.

"Now you don't have to borrow mine anymore right? And you'll actually be carrying around weapons so that you can protect yourself," Sango said laughing. "Alright well I'm going to go train I want to be able to walk on water by the end of this week and Miroku you better find some way to get rid of that log before Ebisu-sensei gets back from his mission. You're lucky he was too tired yesterday to check on your progress, or lack thereof."

"I guess you're right Sango. We'll see you later Kagome." Miroku said as he was dragged out the door lip syncing 'onegai have mercy Kagome, save me; don't let her take me away.'

"Everyone's gone; I guess I'll just wander around the village until those pictures are developed." She quickly changed her clothes throwing her old ones in the trash.

"Ah, Kagome-kun just the person I wanted to see. I wanted to congratulate you on passing Ebisu-san's test and changing his views. Two things which aren't easy to do separately you managed to do at once." Sarutobi said as he closed the door to Naruto's apartment.

"Un? Arigato! Hokage-sama," Kagome bowed wincing when she did Ebisu-sensei had constantly hit in her abdomen during that test. Now her whole stomach area was bruised with healing giant sandal prints. As she bowed she looked down to the floor and saw two pairs of sandaled feet in front of her. Blue eyes traveled up to look at the guy slouching next to the Sandaime. His silver gravity defying hair, mask and the way he wore his hitai-ite seemed strangely familiar to her. "Ano…..Kakashi-san?"

"Hai…?" '-Could it be? It's that girl, the one who survived that youkai attack on her village. The one who almost had a hole going straight through her body. She's the one who I had to bring her to the Uchiha compound to be watched over by Uchiha, Mikoto and one of the few people to think that Maito, Gai is, what's the word she had used to describe 'his eternal rival'…stylish. He guessed with an internal shrug of his shoulders. His eye flicked back to look her up and down, 'Well, I was right to think that she would grow up nicely.'

"Do you remember who I am?" She asked trailing behind the two men who exited the building.

"Higurashi, Kagome," He watched from the corner of his eye as her face instantly lit up. "Oompfh what are you-?" She had just jumped onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his ribcage.

"I want a Piggyback ride, giddie up horsey!" Kagome laughed burying her face into his neck; she remembered the exact same smell of his jacket from when she was younger, it was calming and made her feel safe.

"I'll leave the two of you together. Which reminds me I have Iruka-san wanted to talk to me over a nice cup of tea tomorrow afternoon," Sandaime said the scene warmed his old soul to see and the fact that Kakashi looked really uncomfortable at the moment. "Kakashi."

"Hai Hokage-sama?" He asked turning his head in the Sandaime's direction while the girl clung to his body nuzzling her face into his neck while sighing.

"Try not to keep your new team waiting for you, too long this time."

"…Wakatta, […Got it,]" Kakashi tried to act as normally as he could walking through the crowded streets with a hyper bouncing girl on his back. "Get off me."

"Iie! This is fun," Kagome ignored the stares that she was getting as Kakashi slowly made his way through the market. "You should go faster then maybe I might fall off then you leave me on the ground as you run away."

"That's not such a bad idea, but you're too heavy." Kakashi said smiling under his mask when he felt Kagome stiffen at the mention of her weight, even if she felt no heavier than his favorite romance novel that he always carried around with him.

The ofuda Miroku, Sango and her wore only put weight through their muscles. However the paper doesn't make them any heavier, since paper isn't that heavy to begin with. The reiki combined with the wording on an ofuda changes how the two combined will act. In the case with the weights, it made their muscles _feel_ like they were heavier and acted the same way if they were wearing them just without making their bodies feel any different, if her Obaa-chan was still alive she could explain it a lot better than she was able to or if Miroku were around right this very moment, he could do it but alas they were not. So her explanation would have to do.

"You think I'm fat?" She suppressed the grin that wanted to appear on her face. She would play along with this game. "I guess I'll just have to starve myself if that what it takes to prove my _worthiness_ to you so I can get your affection."

"Eh?" Kakashi stopped walking in mid step, completely frozen. He hadn't had any girl trying to get his 'affection' for many years now, not since he was younger and was going to the academy with the boy he would eventually considered to be his best friend O-

"That's right Kakashi-_kun_ I'll stop eating if that what it takes for you to notice me!" Kagome said copying the exact same squeal the girl's surrounded Sasuke made then she hugged him tighter around the neck and dug her knees into his sides.

"I'm older than twice your age." He was walking a little faster now, not that he noticed. He was trying to get away from the girl. She was making him nervous- wait he didn't just admit that did he was-? A little girl making him, Hatake, Kakashi nervous- no way! That was until he felt a shiver go down his spine when she let a puff of hot air out into his ear- but that was only because his ears were sensitive though!

"The feelings that I have for you does not let a trivial thing such as _age_ get in the way." She said in such a manner that it had made her sound older and much wiser way beyond her years.

"Surely there are some nice boys around your age that you can go bother."

She paid no attention to his statement that was just another way of telling her to 'get lost' only one of her arms were wrapped around his neck now, as she used her other arm to run her fingers through his hair. "Your hair is really soft even though it looks prickly, it doesn't feel that way and there are no traces of gel in your hair to make it look that way either, sugoi [cool]."

"Stop messing up my hair." His sounded as lazy and uncaring as ever but there was an underlying anger starting to surface that made the tone of his voice sound edgier. Kakashi was even holding onto the handle of his Kunai. Lucky for the girl it was still resting in its pouch. He didn't remember when he had reached for the weapon.

"Only if you give me all the care and attention that I _crave_ from you," She was whispering it right into his ear making his mask start to feel uncomfortably tight around his face as his breathing got a little faster- only because it must have been warmer out today than he had thought it would be! "Well this has been fun _Kakashi-kun_ but I think the pictures I have been waiting for are done now thanks for entertaining me while I waited-"

'He's already gone.' Kagome pouted then shrugged she didn't know what his problem was.

Once she had gotten back home Kagome opened the package of pictures immediately eager to see the one of Naruto and Sasuke kissing. She flipped through the photos there was a couple of pictures of a boy who looked like Sasuke but clearly wasn't the face- her body froze up and all the pictures dropped to the floor with a clatter. _Uchiha, Itachi_ she knew who he was. Sometimes his face would appear in her nightmares. She would be staring into his eyes...and he would be strangling her as she pleaded for him not to hurt Sasuke. Drawing in a shaky breath she gathered up the photos one of them caught her eye. It was Mikoto and her with a sleeping Sasuke they had dressed up as a girl they were both laughing. 'I'm going to buy a frame for this picture.' Carefully placing all the pictures back into her envelope she hid it under her pillow.

'Hey isn't that Naru-kun's voice I hear... and he's talking… about ramen?' Kagome thought to herself, she was holding a plastic bag that had a simple black frame inside of it. Sneaking her way over, she went around the building and listened.

"-I don't like the three minutes I have to wait for my cup ramen to cook. My dream is to become the best Hokage Konohagakure has ever seen! That will have to make all the villagers realize how wrong they were about me!"

"Hobbies?" She could tell that this voice belonged to Kakashi. Which meant he was team seven's sensei and been on his way over to meet them while she was acting like his fan girl.

"Playing all sorts of pranks with or without my Nee-san and spending time with her!"

"Next." Kakashi wondered who Naruto was referring to when he said 'Nee-san. He found it odd since Naruto did not have any siblings, well not blood related at least. He'd have to ask the Hokage about it later.

"My name is Uchiha, Sasuke. There are a lot of things that I dislike but I don't really like anything," 'Except Kagome's cooking, but no one here needs to know that.' "I don't want to use the word dream because it's more like an ambition. I want to revive the Uchiha clan and...I want to kill a certain man."

'-to kill a certain man.' Kagome felt a tightening in her chest she felt bad for listening in on their conversation she quickly escaped before she was noticed. Sasuke wants to kill Itachi, 'I never asked him what happened to him after I had passed out. I'll ask him eventually but now's not the right time to do it.'

* * *

What is your best fan girl impression?

Best review for the last chapter: KaneRyuMoon


	16. Pictures

Pages: 11

Words: 5, 814

Chapter Sixteen- Pictures

* * *

"KAKASHI-_KUN_!" Kagome said she had been woken up extra early by Naruto making lots of noise next door as he got ready to do something the he called 'survival training'. He told her he had to get ready and that he'd come by for dinner and tell her how it went.

'Oh no, it is _her_.' He grunted and ran a gloved hand down his face when she stuck herself to his back, again. Kakashi thought if he ignored her, that she'd eventually get bored and go away.

"Where are you going?" She asked curiously hitching a ride on his back swinging her body upside down only using her legs, on his shoulders, to keep her from falling off of him. Her eyes immediately were drawn to the two shiny bells hanging near his waist. Suddenly she remembered the promise she had yet to fulfil to Kirara.

"Somewhere. Don't you have anything better to do then bother me?" Kakashi had given in. Her constant swinging around on his body was making him unbalanced. Plus her feet were inches away from kicking him in the face. Having a fat lip underneath this mask did not look attractive, not even on the most handsome shinobi.

"Now~ that I think about it. Un, you're right. I'll catch you around some other time Kakashi-kun. Then we can spend lots of time together, just the two of us. I'll even cook you your favourite dish." Kagome said jumping onto a nearby rooftop holding the bells behind her back.

'How does she even know what my favourite dish is? I'm glad she wasn't assigned to be on my squad.' Kakashi thought as he continued on his way. He supposed he had made the group of three wait long enough. He was going to use the same teamwork test that he used on the other kids who were all mindless morons. The ones that were trash, who did everything that he asked them to. Kakashi's eye became a happy upside down 'U' at the thought of it, he had the bells right-...where were they? Did that girl-? Iie, he must have dropped them somewhere or left those ones on his other pants. Luckily he always carried spare ones around. He had a lot of these small bells lying around his house since also used them to train his kawaii shinobi dogs.

"Kagome you've decided to save- I mean ahah join us in our training!" Miroku said as the young girl skipped her way over with a giant grin on her face.

"Not really I just came here because Kirara is here and I have something for her," Kagome dangled the two shiny bells in front of the neko's face. Kirara's red eyes immediately lit up with happiness and she purred as she rubbing her head all over Kagome's hand. "Sango can keep these two bells for her? I don't want to lose them again."

"Sure just put it into my pouch, it's over there by that tree. Iie, not that one, the one to the right of that tree you were just at...no your other right," Sango directed watching as the two bells were placed into her red pouch that she kept a lot of other things. Looking at the river Sango took in a deep breath and stepped onto its surface again walking around before slowly starting to sink. "Well at least I have gotten much better..."

"Hey Sango-chan, huh? What are doing splashing around in the river with all your training gear on? You'll get sick or catch some sort of disease." A girl with two buns on the side of her head asked walking over. She wore her hitai-ite so that it covered up her forehead like Sango and Miroku did.

"Training..." Sango murmured purposely sinking her body in the water so she was deep enough to blow bubbles. She just needed to keep a constant flow to her feet. It was easier said than done for her. It was so frustrating, that's why she strayed far away from ninjutsu preferring to prefect her taijutsu style.

"Tenten, my love!" Miroku cried rushing over and squeezing the girl against his body in a bone crushing embrace. Tears were streaming out of his eyes as he swung her body around in a huge circle. "Oh how I've missed seeing your lovely face and hearing the sound of your melodious sweet voice. It's been too long since we've parted our separate ways, far too lon-"

"Baka!" Tenten slammed her fist into the underside of the jaw sending him flying up into the sky. "You're the only reason why don't come and visit Sango-chan more often."

"-and how you speak such unfavourable words to me." Miroku said lying on the ground in a twitching heap as he rubbed the underside of his jaw. He was lucky that he was used to getting beaten up by Sango on a daily basis that an uppercut like that just didn't hurt him anymore. He believed he had grown slightly immune to the pain dealt to him by angry women.

"That's because you deserve them! How many times do I have to tell you not to touch me before you get it through that thick skull of yours? IT'S A WONDER HOW YOU WERE ABLE TO GRADUATE, SINCE YOU HAD ONE OF THE LOWEST SCORES OUT OF THE OTHER KIDS!" Tenten hollered a tick mark on her forehead pulsing rapidly as her fists shook at her sides.

"Tenten-san are you alright? I heard your youthful yells from our training area I came to see if you were in any danger." A person who looked strangely familiar to someone a younger Kagome had met a long time ago way back when. He appeared a lot younger from the last time she saw him but still stylish as ever.

"Gai-sensei!" Kagome announced laughing as she jumped on top of the boy, who toppled over to the ground from the sudden assault. He looked up confused at the child who was sitting on his stomach giving him a big toothy grin.

"Iie! My name is Rock, Lee! Gai-sensei is my sensei...you really think I look like him?" Lee asked his eyes shining with stars. What this small child had told him here today was the best thing that had happened to him, since his birth- he had been mistaken as Gai-sensei!

"Hey who is the kid?" Tenten asked jutting her thumb in the direction were Kagome was sitting on top of her team mate. 'How could Lee not think that he looks like Gai...I don't understand why he tries so hard to look like him in the first place. He's not exactly the best role model to get girls to become attracted to him. No girls throw themselves at Gai-sensei's feet to worship the ground he walked on. He's a nice guy and all but that would be the day.'

"Oh that's the genin that was placed onto our squad. Her name's Kagome and she just graduated from the academy. She passed Ebisu-sensei's test yesterday." Sango fondly said smiling as she got out of the river.

Blue eyes narrowed at Lee, who gulped. "Wait, soooo you're saying that you're, not Gai-sensei? But you're wearing all of his stylish clothes that he wears! So you must be an imposter!" She used both her hands to tug at his thick eyebrows thinking that they would be ripped off. This boy's aura even reminded her of Gai and that was just creepy. If his aura had a mouth it would be screaming 'determination' at the top of its lungs to the high heavens above.

"ITAI!" Lee jumped back holding onto his thick beautiful eyebrows then pointed down at the girl on the ground that was looking back up at him curiously. "What do you think you're doing to my most striking feature that has been sanctified upon my face?"

"LEE-KUN! I heard your youthful cry of pain and hurried over as soon as I could! Are you alright Lee-kun? I don't know what I would do with myself if you got your handsome self harmed!"

"Gai-sensei!" Kagome jumped on him tackling the man she was sure was Gai, unless there was _another_ person that looked like him. "Do you remember me?"

"Kagome-kun? IT IS YOU! I would never forget your spirited blue eyes and the youth that burns so brightly in your body! LET ME HAVE A GOOD LOOK AT YOU YOUNG CHILD," Gai said standing up and grabbing the small girl underneath her arms holding her at an arm's length away. "You're _sniffle _all grown up from when I last laid my most fetching eyes upon you! Kagome-kun, answer me honestly I have to know- where have you been all this time?"

"Training with my Obaa-chan sir!" Kagome said laughing then struggling to breath as her body was crushed against Gai's chiselled chest and his muscular arms.

"Gai-sensei you know her?" Lee asked his eyes widening with amazement, 'Gai-sensei is really cool he knows everybody! He is also admired and loved by all.' He wanted to be just like that when he was older.

"Hai, she joined me in my training for a couple of days many years ago then she disappeared and I vowed to myself that I would someday meet her again! AND HERE SHE IS! This is the girl you must thank, for she is one of the reasons I decided to be a Jounin sensei!" Gai turned her girl around and shoved her into Lee's open arms so he could dance around cheering, click his heels together and cry his 'manly' tears of pure happiness.

"Tch. Why do I even bother to come here and misuse my time trying to train when all you do is run off? Do I need to shove a dog cone on your heads to keep your attention in one place?"

"Neji-kun! My saviour," Tenten said with a wide grin on her face, she had to admit it. Her heart sped up whenever she saw him. Being on his team made her gain feelings for him it must be as he like to refer to it as 'fate'. She had heard about certain parts of his life- well mainly it was about his unconditional hate for the main branch family of the Hyuuga clan. Yet she was still able to manifest undeniably strong feelings for him. "You're here to save me from Miroku aren't you? "

"Hyuuga." Sango hissed jumping out of the water with a splash so she could be at eye level as she glared in Neji's direction grinding her teeth together in anger. She took more pride than she should in being slightly taller than him.

"Che," Neji clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth at the disgusting scene of Lee holding a young girl in his arms. This was the same young girl who _willingly_ hugged Gai. He slowly turned his body to face Sango who was sending a heated glare in his direction. Her entire body was dripping wet and her training gear clung to her body more than it usually did. If Neji was anyone but himself, he wouldn't have been able to stop himself from blushing at the sight. "Sakimitama."

"Grrrrr," Sango growled under her breath the way he said her last name, making it sound demeaning and not worth the oxygen it had wasted. She still hadn't blinked and continued to glare at him. "Shouldn't you be somewhere else?"

"I honestly don't get why those two hate each other so much." Tenten with a sigh dragging her eyes away from the bickering match, what really surprised her was the fact that Neji even bothered to reply to Sango. Tenten rolled her eyes she'd never get those two.

"I don't get why you hate me." Miroku said holding on tightly to one of her legs rubbing his face against her pant leg rapidly.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH ME!" Tenten yelled kicking Miroku's body away before angrily stomping off dragging Lee and Gai-sensei behind her. "Come on you two we're leaving before that boy decides to touch me again!"

"Kagome-kun! Make sure you continue to stay so fresh, exciting and YOUTHFUL-!" Gai said merrily, just then his head was dragged over sixteen large rocks each of them whacking the strange man in the head, knocking him out cold.

"Bye Kagome-san it was nice meeting you I'll see you around," Lee said giving the good guy pose as he was dragged back into the forest with Gai and when Lee turned to give his sensei a grin he noticed that his sensei's eyes were closed and his tongue hung out of his mouth, "GAI-SENSEI! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?"

"I walked on water using my chakra, when I was only six," Neji rubbed his achievement in her face. He didn't know why he did it. He supposed it's because he liked it when her eyes were on him- even if they did look like she wanted to tear him limb from limb. If he knew any better she probably could do it too. "That training exercise is simple." He had to fight down any sort of feeling he had for her. Instead he acted arrogant around her because he knew that eventually, when the time came he'd have to marry another Hyuuga- one of his cousins. There was so much inbreeding going on it was another one of the things he loathed about the clan. It was his destiny though and his path he had to follow bitterly until the end.

"Well not all of us can be so naturally talented like you _Hyuuga_ this may come as a shock to you, but some of us actually have to work hard to be achieve the things that they want!" Sango yelled huffing as she turned her body away from Neji crossing her arms over her chest as she glared down at her reflection glaring back at her on the water's surface. 'Stupid training exercise, I'll show him.' She stepped out onto the water's surface and walked around looking in Neji's direction with a triumphant look on her face, that was, before she started to sink.

"Tch. You need a constant flow." 'Why am I giving her advice, no one was there when to help me when I learned how to do it. I've had to do everything myself since father-'

"Don't you think that I already know that! What do you think I'm trying to do, I'd rather be doing something else than sink into this river!"

"When you sink that means you need to send more chakra to the bottom of your feet. Do not over compensate otherwise you'll be wasting your chakra." Neji said his eyes narrowing then darting over to this squad's new teammate to assess her. She appeared to have no special talent, looked and felt- weak and was quite short. This wasn't a possible opponent he would want to fight; it would definitely be a waste of his time. Those were his thoughts as he roughly shoved his hands back into his pockets before walking back from the direction he came from.

"Di-did my ears deceive me or did Neji-san actually give _you_ his advice? As in he wanted to _help_ you learn the same training exercise that he's known ever since he was six." Miroku asked looking in her direction with his mouth wide open.

"Sounded like it." Sango grumbled punching the water to distort her reflection sending the liquid spraying everywhere as she climbed out. 'I don't get him at all why is he trying to help me? Is it because he thinks I'm too stupid that I can't figure it out by myself...ugh.'

"Even though I know you don't like him one bit. I still think you should take his advice, he sounds like someone who knows what they're doing." Kagome said looking at her upside down friend, since she was lying on her back.

"Fine, but none of you are to speak of this _ever_ that means you're going to keep your lips from flapping around Miroku," Sango said stepping out onto the water again and when she started to feel herself sinking she sent a little more chakra to her feet. From that point on her face was scrunched in pure concentration as she tried to keep her chakra at a steady rate. There was some trial and error, but in no time she was keeping herself from getting wet. "I can't believe I'm doing it and I'm not going to get wet this time!" Sango was making her way along the river bank and for the first time she stepped back onto dry land without getting soaked, until Kagome ran up and pushed her in. Then she ran away from Sango who sputtered out the water before yelling, "GET BACK HERE KAGOME, YOU LITTLE GAKI!"

* * *

"-and then Kakashi-sensei told us that we should quit being ninja's all together- so Sasuke ran at him and then Kakashi-sensei pulled out a kunai and told Sakura to kill me so that Sasuke wouldn't die- I thought that she was really going to kill me- then Kakashi-sensei told us about teamwork and I was still tied up to that log anyways so then Kakashi-sensei is like after lunch you'll get another chance- 'don't give Naruto any food because I am the rule' or something like that- I just told them not to worry about me even though I was starving because Kakashi-sensei told us not to eat- then Sasuke offered to give me his bento- but then Sakura gave me hers instead then Kakashi-sensei made this big explosion and he was yelling at us and he told us we passed- and said that we were the first team that he ever had passed before!"

"Sugoi Naru-kun!"

"That test seemed kind of like ours. Except instead of bells Ebisu-sensei used his glasses." Sango said gathering up all the dishes and placing them in the sink because it was her turn to do the dishes this week.

"I suppose all Jounin sensei test their team for teamwork. Communication with other people is very important more than ever on missions," Miroku said bringing up his hand to hold onto his chin before remember that he could get acne from the oils on his hands. "You must be exhausted from today Naruto."

"Hai I am. If it wasn't for Kirara though I would have had to find a way to untie myself from the log because everyone forgot about me and left!" Naruto yawned and stretched out his aching body before making his way to the front door. "Well I'll see you guys later. I'm going to go to bed early my butt's really sore too from Kakashi shoving his fingers up there like that...thousand years of pain...stupid supreme taijutsu technique…"

"That didn't sound right... anyways Miroku when do you suppose Ebisu-sensei is going to get back from his mission?" Sango asked from the kitchen area over the running water and the clanking of dishes.

"A couple more days or maybe two weeks at the most, a jounin-sensei with genins that have less than two years experience aren't usually given missions that last a month or more. The Hokage-sama knows that jounin-sensei need to come back as quickly as they can, so they can keep an eye on their genin team. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering when we can ask him when we get our next mission. I feel like leaving the village and fighting some bad guys. After all Kagome here hasn't been on one yet and if we're lucky we won't have to do any of those boring 'D' class missions."

"A mission, that sounds dangerous and fun!" Kagome said excitedly her whip like bruises were slowly showing signs of healing. "You know what I suddenly feel the need to train all this adrenaline is running through my body now. Don't wait up for me." 'I'm going to fight against my kage bushin clones again after I saw Naru-kun beat up Mizuki this has become by favourite way of training myself those reiki attacks really hurt.'

* * *

'He looks really tired.' Kagome thought as she loomed over Sasuke's face. It was all scrunched up in obvious pain. In her hands she was holding the envelope of pictures; she had kept four of them. One of them was a younger Kagome sleeping on a futon with Sasuke (since there were a quite a few of them), the one that she had framed was Mikoto and her with Sasuke dressed up like a girl and the last two was the one's she had taken recently were Sasuke and Naruto were lip locked and then the after math were they're choking and holding their necks. It was attractive.

A hand suddenly shot out and grabbed onto her wrist 'that is going to leave a mark' it was getting increasingly more painful every moment passed. When she could no longer bear the pain Kagome sent out some reiki waves. She would usually use that type of reiki heal people, but in this instances she made Sasuke relax, before he snapped her wrist. Slowly she felt Sasuke's grip loosen and soon she was easily able to slip her arm well out of his grasping range. Rubbing her bruising wrist with her other hand, she ventured into the kitchen grabbed a plastic bowl and placed it onto his head before going back in the kitchen. There she decided she would wait for him to wake up. After all she had come here to look through the pictures with him, it had been a couple of days now since they had been developed. So that she wouldn't get bored while she waited, she decided to make some salmon onigiri [rice balls].

"What's with you and places bowls on my head?" Sasuke asked his eye twitching as he dropped the bowl into the sink before sitting at his table where Kagome was happily munching away on a salmon onigiri. He remembered waking up in the hospital bed the day before Kagome told him that she had to leave, with a bowl covering his head too.

"It's funny," The window that she had opened in the kitchen blew around her hair a little bit. "I heard about your team passing Kakashi-kun's test, congrats."

'Why does she refer to my sensei as Kakashi-kun?' Sasuke wondered as he bit into an onigiri then he remembered why they passed. Kakashi-sensei had told them that after lunch they could try again but they were not allowed to feed Naruto. Then for some strange reason Kagome's voice floated in his head saying 'I'd never let you starve if I could help it Naru-kun. You need your strength for after lunch Iruka is going to be testing us.' That's when everything clicked in his head and why he had offered that dobe his bento box. He was the one who had ignored Kakashi's command that was the reason they had passed. "Un and… ari-gato."

"Douitashimashite? [You're welcome?]" Kagome was confused why was Sasuke thanking her for? She may never know. "Oh! I got the pictures developed off of your Kaa-san's camera yesterday! I wanted to look through them with you. Unless you're busy training today. It's okay if you are-"

"I can always go train later." Sasuke found himself cutting her off 'how come I'm changing my normal training routine for her- it's just because I'm interested in the pictures that's it. It's not because I want to spend time with her...is it? Iie, I'm interesting in the photos.'

"Okay let's go sit out front. I keep forgetting to tell you that your house is stuffy you should at least open a window once in awhile," Kagome said as she placed all the dishes in the sink and picked up the envelope full of pictures. She closed her eyes as a cooling breeze brushed past her and smiled it felt good to be outside in the nice warm sun her legs dangled over the side of his porch. "Here you can flip through the pictures. I can just look over your shoulder."

"Itachi was able to master the sharingan when he was eight and when he was ten he became chuunin. Then he became a jounin and shortly after that he became an ANBU leader when he was only a mere thirteen year old! Only one year older than I am now." Sasuke said angrily as he flipped through the first couple of pictures that were of a young Itachi receiving his titles, standing with his father. He crushed these photos into a tight ball and threw them as far away from him as he possibly could. They were only painful reminders that Itachi was_ still_ stronger than him and what that bastard had already accomplished.

"What's the sharingan?" Kagome questioned she had heard this word thrown around a couple of times when she was younger, but she had absolutely no idea what it meant.

"It's my clan's kekkei genkai [bloodline limit] it's an ability that allows the user to read and defeat all types of jutsu. The name 'sharingan' literally means copy wheel eye because that's what it does, it can copy an opponent's technique by just seeing it once." Sasuke said rather gruffly shoving his clenched fists into his pockets. He wanted to run off and go train harder than he had ever before now, just seeing that bastards face again just made him want to...

"Sasuke…I think that's the most I've heard you talk...well to be honest, ever!" She said as she tried to lighten the mood. "That means you'll also get this 'sharingan' am I right?"

"Hn. It only appears in a select few members of the Uchiha clan" 'so that means even then it might not appear in my eyes...damn that Itachi...'

"Hey this kid in the picture, is it you?" She asked with a small laugh as she held up the pile of pictures displaying the one on top that he hadn't even looked at. It was Fugaku who had colossal bags under his eyes looking absolutely disheveled as he tried to console a much younger Sasuke who appeared to be bawling his eyes out screaming at the top of his little lungs while he tore out Fugaku's hair with tiny chubby hands, the photo must have been taken by Mikoto.

"Hai." Sasuke looked at the picture and as his eyes scanned the scene, he calmed down and he pulled his hands out of his pockets and took the pictures out of Kagome's hands. He had almost forgotten what his Chichi-ue had looked like. The photo behind that one was of him pouting angrily. His small face was entirely red, his hair was styled into a bowl cut and his Kaa-san was in the background holding a pair of scissors looking at her son very sheepishly and apologetically as he looked like he was on the verge of bursting out into tears.

"That's why you never liked it when someone mentioned 'bowl cut' when we were younger."

"Un…" He flipped through the pictures quicker now, there were pictures of birthdays with Itachi in them and he didn't want to see that face of his. Sasuke stopped at a picture were a younger Kagome and Sasuke were snuggled together on a futon sleeping peacefully blissfully unaware that someone was taking pictures of them.

"You'll like the next pictures. I remember those one's being taken." Kagome innocently said with a grin on her face, she was glad Sasuke did not get up and leave without seeing the rest of the pictures. She had actually contemplated removing all the ones with Itachi in it, but that would seem suspicious on her part. It would make it seem like she had something to hide.

"You guys, did this to me when I was asleep?" Sasuke muttered expertly flipping around a photo, using two fingers, of him in a dress. 'My Kaa-san must have wished that I would be a girl when she got pregnant with me.'

"Un! Your Kaa-san was really fast when she dressed you up one second you had your normal clothes on the next you were in a dress then we both made your hair look like that together."

Sasuke flipped through the last couple of pictures, one of them that he had gotten a good glimpse at was a seven year old him practicing the goukakyuu no jutsu while his Chichi-ue hid up in a tree and watched him. He didn't know that his father had been there watching him the entire time… He thumbed through the rest of them but prior to him getting to the end his attention was drawn away from the photos and went to Kagome who had hopped off the porch.

"If you're looking for the picture that was taken where you're kissing Naru-kun it's not there. I've hidden it away were no one will ever find it!" Kagome said she knew what Sasuke was looking for as he quickly flipped though the rest of the photos.

"What do you plan to do with it?" Sasuke carefully placed the pictures back into the envelope.

"Probably blackmail you guys or I'll eventually forget where I've hidden it; either way it's one or the other." Came her truthful reply, she look up at the sky. The clouds had started to darken tremendously as they hung over Konoha ominously, it was spooky looking.

"That's reassuring," Sasuke mumbled to her as he briefly went back inside his house to drop the pictures off, so that he knew they were safe and he could look through them again later. "How did your jounin test go to see if you could be put onto a squad? Since Iruka-sensei said that you passed and Kakashi-sensei said that only 10 genin were going to make it?"

"Hmfpt, it was nothing like the test Kakashi-kun gave your team with the two bells." Kagome said sitting back down on the stairs to Sasuke's house, using her leg she propped up her arm on top of her knee and leaned her face against her hand looking at all the empty houses.

"How so?" 'She said it again Kakashi-_kun_. Why does she refer to him as such? Not- that it matters to me because it doesn't! How did she get that bruise? It looks like it's in the shape of a hand. Somebody must have grabbed her wrist roughly-'

"First off mine wasn't a test with the rest of my team. I was tested by myself. Miroku said it probably was because I was already too familiar with my teammates. Sango said I must have played a prank on him when I was younger and it was payback. Before you ask, I was placed onto their squad and their- well I guess it's now 'our' team leader's name is Ebisu-sensei."

"Then how were you tested?" Sasuke was only asking these questions because he was curious about learning how the different methods jounin instructors had.

"I had to get his yucky looking circular sunglass off of his face, I guess it wasn't that hard," She said with a shrug of her shoulders looking back to see Sasuke's obsidian eyes looking directly into hers. "He was just making me angry the way he talked about Naru-kun but by the end of the fight he changed his views and I broke his glasses. He owes me an all I can eat ramen from Ichiraku Ramen because I bet him that if I won, he'd have to!"

"What were the stakes at?" He just wanted to know…how a jounin thought.

"Nothing all that bad... if I won, I'd be accepted on his team and get an all I can eat ramen paid in its entirety by Ebisu-sensei. If he won then I'd have to quite being a shinobi I think his exact words were, 'but if you fail, not only do you have to go back to the academy but you won't be allowed to become a shinobi _ever_.' Now that I think about it, that doesn't even make sense. He said he would send me back to the academy but I wasn't allowed to become a shinobi." Kagome said in the same exact harsh tone Ebisu had used. Then she laughed at the expression that Sasuke was giving her that clearly was asking 'are you stupid?' she had to look away. "I suppose I'm luckily I won."

"He must be a weak jounin if a mere genin, fresh from the academy could beat him on their first attempt." Sasuke concluded that had to be it.

"Un, I guess so. I didn't really get to see him go all out because whenever I could I would attack his arms, that way he wouldn't be able to use any of his jutsus on me."

"Surprisingly smart, for someone who hangs out with Naruto so much."

"I'll just pretend I didn't hear you didn't say that."

"I can say it again, surp-" Sasuke soon found Kagome behind him with her hand covering his mouth, muffling the rest of his words.

"You may not know this but Naru-kun has actually been practicing very hard every single day. He straps himself down to his bed and does tons of sit ups and he hasn't asked Sango, Miroku or I to help him with learning his jutsus," Kagome said before removing her hand once she felt that Sasuke wasn't going to say something rude about the hyperactive blonde. "He even made this doll to look like Kakashi-kun and I walked in on him one time when he was beating the stuffing out of it. Becoming a shinobi has changed Naru-kun it's made him…serious and he hasn't even asked me to play a prank with him since! I've been so bored these last couple of days."

"Che," Sasuke looked off to the side, why was she always so quick to defend Naruto, it was probably because she liked him- what did that dobe have that he didn't? An annoying laughing, orange clothes, a messy apartment that smelled like- okay let him rephrase the question. What did Naruto have that he wanted, absolutely nothing….except maybe Kagome spending most of her time hanging around him, but- that was only because- uh crap- okay this one, he couldn't make up an excuse for. "He'll always be a loser in my books."

"Sasuke…" The tone in her voice had changed from its usual happy one got his attention. "I've been meaning to ask you, but there never seemed to be an appropriate time for my question. You don't have to answer if you don't want to but, what did Itachi do to you after I passed out?"

* * *

What is the best piece of advice you have ever heard?

Best reviews for the last chapter: LOL-LIVElikeurOUTofLOLLIPOPS & Blackmoon OniOokami


	17. Mission

Pages: 10

Words: 5, 488

Chapter Seventeen: Mission

* * *

It was completely silent, the sky had completely darkened, the wind had stopped blowing through the trees and the birds had stopped chirping. Sasuke's bangs shaded over his eyes as he leaned his head down. The memories were replaying themselves from that day. It went up until the point where Itachi was squeezing a younger Kagome around her neck holding her away from his body. Just as Kagome was about to tell him, that he could tell her the tale another time, Sasuke broke the silence and started to speak. In a way he believed he owed it to her because he was responsible for letting her get hurt. He was a weakling back then; this was just another reminder that he had to get stronger.

"I watched as I thought Itachi had snapped your neck then tossed your body through the sliding doors. I had to ask him why he killed everyone he said '_I wanted to see if I could_' and that '_they were an important test_' I went to punch the bastard, but he was too fast and punched me first," Sasuke paused wanting to make sure that he recounted the events the way it had gone. Water droplets had started to fall when he had started retelling what happened, it was raining a lot heavier now. He had decided to relocate and go back inside so now there they were sitting at the kitchen table as they sky continued to darken outside even more. "I saw my parents' dead bodies up close… they were so close to my face, I could almost smell their blood. I was a coward and I was scared. I yelled at my brother not to kill me and I ran away like the pathetic coward that I was, but Itachi was already there waiting for me and he told me '_If you want to kill me…..then hate, spite, and survive pathetically…. run,…run... and cling desperately to life._' Since that day I have become an avenger, he's the reason why I train hard every single day that I can. So that one day ….I will be the one to _kill_ him."

'What a horrible thing for Itachi to do…I wish I could tell Sasuke how bad I feel for him, but he doesn't need my pity. It will only remind him of how weak he thinks he is, even though we were just kids when it happened.' She looked up to see Sasuke looking in her direction with his fingers intertwined as he rested his chin on top of his folded hands he was probably wondering what she was going to say back to him. "Do you know the reason why I was brought to this village?"

"Your village was destroyed by a youkai." He didn't know where she was going with this.

"Un but I didn't live in that village until my Kaa-san, Souta my otouto and Jii-chan were killed by one of the people I considered to be my best friend," Kagome could tell that Sasuke was interested in what she had to say, the way he had leaned forward slightly, gave it away. "I don't remember his name whenever I try to I just hear a bunch of static. All I know is that he had this two triangular dog ears on the top of his head, had silver hair and always wore this red fighting kimono. He was a lot older than me and he was half youkai. And many years prior to me meeting him he had a girl he was in love with, her name was Kikyo and she was killed by a youkai impersonating the dog eared youkai. But this wasn't any ordinary youkai though. This one went by the name of Naraku and he is the self proclaimed ruler over all the other bad youkai. He's probably one of the most powerful youkai out there. He is able to manipulate rouge youkai to do his dirty work for him and sends hordes of them to destroy as many villages and eat as many villagers as they can and takes pleasure from seeing it done. Anyways Kikyo the girl that the dog eared youkai loved, thought that the real dog eared youkai had killed her so she pinned him to a tree using the last of her power and shot him with a scared arrow."

"So he was killed by one arrow?" 'That was the most pathetic way to die I've heard yet.'

"Iie, he didn't die he was just put him in a death-like state somehow preserving him until someone was able to pull the arrow out and that person, just so happened to be me. I was running away from another youkai that wanted to kill me. I got too close to the dog eared boy and for some reason he was awakened from his slumber and he protected me. We became friends and along the way we met up and became friends with this young full blooded youkai kid who had no parents-"

"That's not dangerous at all, becoming friends with a full blooded blood thirsty monster."

"Not all youkai are out for blood Sasuke," She said rolling her eyes. "We eventually met up with Miroku, Sango and Kirara they had no real family either and had lived hard lives because of Naraku. Like Miroku's family was cursed by Naraku and his father was killed by it and Sango's entire clan was killed by her otouto, Kohaku who was being controlled by Naraku. Sango herself was also manipulated by Naraku's lies and tried to kill the dog eared boy but she found out that Naraku was the one feeding her lies. We all became close friends and we would go camping all the time together. It wasn't until another youkai made a clay version of Kikyo and brought her back to life and she would come around and try to take dog eared youkai. She tainted him by telling him that he deserved to go to hell with her because she still believed that he was the one that killed her. And if he still loved her like he claimed he did, he would go with her. But for some reason even though the dog eared boy still was in love with her he wouldn't go because he needed to gather something that was broken…and kill Naraku for what he had done. But out of anger his dead girlfriend joined sides with Naraku."

"She could bring that boy to hell? What kind of jutsu is that?" Sasuke was intrigued if was able to learn a powerful jutsu like that then he would have no problem at killing Itachi at all!

"I don't think it was any kind jutsu, I think it was because she was already dead."

"Hn."

"Then one day the dog eared boy just sort of left our group leaving us to defend ourselves against the youkai, he was the one in our group who usually protected us by killing them. Everyone was still out camping then too; we were pretty far away from the village. Then when I finally got ho-home everyone was de-dead they're hearts had been torn out from their bodies."

'I didn't know that she had also seen the bodies of her dead family members too…she's trying to hide it but I can see that tears are falling down her cheeks. Should I-?' Before he could finish that thought she started to speak once again.

"After that I went to live with Obaa-chan with everyone else. Even then we still went camping. We were still searching for the thing that had been broken…and while we were camping Naraku attacked us, he wanted something from me but I can't remember what it was. He kept on hurting me and I felt like I was going to die. He told me that the dog eared boy had been the one to kill my family as well as Sango's otouto, who was being used like a puppet by Naraku. Then this bright light came out of nowhere and then he was gone and he had done something with the small full youkai boy. Naraku's probably killed him by now… Then I remember seeing a giant grayish black light and a small ghostly looking girl. Then that dog eared youkai but instead of the dog eared youkai's voice and eyes, it was Naraku's. Then after that I remember being in a lot of pain and everyone being saved by Kakashi-kun and waking up here at your house. Sango, Miroku and I train hard almost every day because we know that we are the ones who have to kill Naraku to make sure he can never hurt anyone, like he's been able to hurt us, again."

As Kagome finished telling her story she quickly looked out the kitchen window, which thankfully was now closed. She wiped away the tears from her eyes; it was silly that she was still crying about it. After all she couldn't change what already happened, but she could prevent other bad things from happening to other people. That was her goal. The rain continued to pour outside and the wind was blowing so hard that the trees were almost lying directly on the ground it showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. Konoha had been awaiting this rain for many months and now they were _really_ getting the rain. She really didn't want to walk home in this weather…

'I could never have guessed that she had such a painful past, she acts like she's always so happy. It's all an act though; she's secretly hurting on the inside like everyone else but she hides it so well...' Sasuke figured out a small piece of the puzzle that was Kagome, who was looking out the window with an 'I have to go out there?' expression on her face. "You can stay here until it stops. I'm going to make some soup do you want some?"

"Un! Arigato," It was tomato soup poured directly from a can into a pot and served in a bowl with a side of crackers. Kagome's eye twitched as she starred at the 'meal' that was placed in front of her. "Is this what you've been surviving off of for the last three years of your life?"

"Hn," He didn't see anything wrong with it, this was a really quick to make and he ate it at least once a week. "I eat other things too."

"Like what fruits, vegetables, rice, different types of soup, crackers, onigiri, bread and eggs?-"

'How the hell did she-?'

"-because from what I've seen that's all you have in your refrigerator and cabinets. How boring, no wonder you never say 'iie' ['no'] to whenever I offer to cook you food. Even my Obaa-chan can whip up a better meal then this in the same amount of time you used and that's saying something because she kept trying to put poison into my food." She said gulping down the soup in one go after shoving a handful of crackers into her mouth.

Sasuke gave Kagome a blank stare as he put a spoonful of his soup into his mouth. The reason why she acted so unlady like was probably because she hung around Naruto too much almost making her eating habits as bad as his. He crinkled his nose in disgust as he carefully chewed a cracker thoughtfully before drinking more soup. Maybe it was also because she spent so much time living with her Obaa-chan, training. How strong had she gotten really? She didn't seem any stronger from the last time he had seen her when they were kids.

"I'll drag a futon into my room and you can sleep on that." He returned with a futon in hand along with a pillow and a duvet cover.

"You mean I can't just sleep with you on the same bed? I don't see what's wrong with that we used to do it when we were younger." She questioned with a pout on her face. His bed looked so much more comfortable, it was big enough too!

"…Iie," Sasuke replied dropping the stuff he was carrying on the floor then he climbed into his bed instantly jumping away like he was burned. "Get out of my bed!"

"Sasuke you're no fun!" Kagome whined lightly crossing her arms over her chest as she sat back down on the hard futon staring in Sasuke's direction in the dark. "I miss my bed now."

"Then go home." Was his tired response as he rolled over in his bed as he tried to go to sleep because he was meeting with his team tomorrow morning, they were going to do their first mission together. He could only hope that his wretched teammates didn't get in his way.

"It's still raining though," She said quietly as she listened to the raindrops slowly _pitter patter_ against the window. Kagome then got an idea using her reiki she lulled the already sleepy Sasuke to sleep then dragged the futon next to his bed. Then she stood on his bed and used her feet to push him off of his bed and made sure that he landed on the futon and finally she pushed the futon back where it had originally been. "Victory!" She whispered snuggling down into the soft warm bed that smelled faintly of pine and burning wood, it made her smile.

The next morning Kagome woke up early and slipped back into her apartment and jumped into her bed. Since the rain had slowed to a light drizzle she decided to go home. It would be too complicated to explain to Sasuke why he had woken up on the futon so she had decided to leave, but not before placing another bowl on Sasuke's head and making him a plate that had a piece of toast on it, with two fried eggs for eyes, a bacon shaped into a smile, a slice of tomato cut into a triangle to look like a nose and the rest of tomato was used up to make a bowl or hat shape on top of the face.

"Kagome when did you get-? Never mind get your butt out of bed come on, Ebisu-sensei came back from his mission a day ago and he spent it recovering and then today he came here and told us to pack because we're going on our very first mission as a team! This is going to be great." Sango said excitedly throwing Kagome's backpack at the sleeping lump.

"Mission? Whadda we have to do?" Kagome asked as she yawned while her belongings were thrown at her by Sango.

"We have to hurry up and pack! MIROKU you better not be in the bathroom still otherwise I'm going to take a kunai and shave your head right down the middle, then leave the rest of your hair untouched." Sango yelled making the boy run out of the bathroom smiling to herself as she quickly as she shoved a couple youkai bone weapons into her backpack.

"Alright so now that everyone's packed up what's this mission we were given?" Kagome asked using her two thumbs to pull against the straps of her backpack while they waited at the Konoha gates for their sensei to arrive.

"We're just supposed to get rid of some youkai that keep attacking villagers who come out at night. I just hope this village has pretty girls in it, so that they will praise me for saving them." Miroku imagined being carried around on a giant purple lounge chair and being fed grapes off of the vine by kawaii girls, he had a bit of drool hanging out of his mouth.

"Not only are we getting rid of the youkai but we are to deliver this shipment medicinal herbs to the villager leader also. "Ebisu said slumped over 'I can't believe that I have to bring Kagome-kun, her very first mission and it will be a C class….If we get into any trouble the others and I will be able to protect her if needed. This should in fact be a really quick and simple mission.' He thought as he walked up with an armful of herbs in bags. He placed his backpack on the ground and put the bags inside before they set off.

"When are we going to get to the village Ebisu-sensei?" Miroku asked with a bounce in his step that only the thought of pretty girls would bring.

"We will be arriving around mid-day. Once we get there we'll deliver these herbs to the appropriate person and then rest up so when night falls we'll be ready to take on any of those youkai who come our way!" Ebisu replied making sure he was keeping his eyes peeled for any suspicious activity.

"How are these missions classified?" Kagome after they had been travelling for at least two hours, she sat down on a log as they had decided it was time to take a short break.

"Every day Konoha gets requests all of them are written down and divided into a rank: D class, C class, B class and A class missions. D, C are the type of missions that you Genin are allowed to do, CB are what Chuunins are capable of doing and A missions are those are given to a well trained Jounin like me. If all goes well and the mission is completed we receive a payment," Ebisu explained filling up his canteen of water he caught some movement in the tree tops when he looked at the reflection of the water. "Ha ha and Kagome-kun don't think I have forgotten about that promise I made you about the all you can eat ramen, as soon as we get back from the village I will make sure that I keep my end of the deal."

"Okay sensei, so what kind of mission is this one is it a D?" She asked sensing a youkai circling the group this one was definitely a scout to the village that was a couple miles down the road that was completely infested with youkai…good or bad? She couldn't tell without meeting them first.

"Iie! Thank Kami, this is a C class. Miroku and I got to do all those boring D class missions like watering plants, washing windows, finding peoples stuff, gardening and many other utterly boring ones. You're _so, so, so, so, so_ lucky that you were put on our squad and that you probably won't have to do those." Sango replied the hair on the back of her neck was standing up which meant there was a youkai nearby.

"Un Kagome you should consider yourself lucky that we have already done the suffering for you. We're usually given C class missions now since we've already been Genin for more than a full year now. Also because there is a fresh batch of Genins like Naruto that will have the pleasure of doing all those 'fun' D class missions." Miroku his eyes were narrowed slightly he could sense the youkai and he could tell everyone else had noticed it too.

"You were helping Konoha become a better place by doing those D class missions! Those missions have made you become better shinobi's without you even knowing it!" Ebisu told them, he couldn't believe what he was hearing! Whatever the threat had been, it was gone for now so he became more relaxed.

"Is that why you never helped us?" Sango asked looking at him with a blank expression. She clearly remembered the time where Miroku and her had to clean all the windows of the Hokage tower and all Ebisu did was stand there using his finger to point out spots that needed to be cleaned again or that hadn't been cleaned yet.

"Sango-chan whatever do you mean, I was always there supervising the both of you to make sure my precious Genins' never got hurt and always did a job well done!"

"What about the time when those girl's were throwing rocks at me while we had to clean out that old shopkeeper's dirty gutter?" Miroku asked as they were getting ready to leave.

"Was that the time when you kept asking random girls walking by if they wanted to go out with you and then you started singing to them? If I were them and had to hear _you_ sing rocks would be the least of your worries." Sango said as she jumped from one tree branch to the next.

"You're so cold to me." Miroku said shivering as he dodged a small twig that had threatened to jab his eye out.

"That's because you can be such a drama queen at times."

"Well at least we all know that I can get in touch with my feminine side unlike a certain Sakimitama over here who does nothing but train day in and day out. With those arm muscles you have I sometimes wonder if you're secretly a man because you act more like a man than-"

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango pulled the weapon off of her back, making sure she was mindful of Kirara who was perched on her shoulder and then swung it around so that it connected with the back of Miroku's skull, rendering him unconscious.

"Sa-Sango-chan!" Ebisu said both of his hands up in the air grasping for nothing. Inwardly he wondered how the boy was still alive after being hit the head so many times.

"Wakatta [Got it] since I knocked him out I'll have to carry him until he's conscious again." She grumbled grabbing the limp boy by his left leg then continued to go from tree to tree making sure that Miroku's body 'accidentally' was dragged and beaten against the rough bark of every single branch.

"Do they display such vulgar behavior at home too?" Ebisu directed this question to the newest member of his team who was happily grinning at what had taken place.

"Un! Most of the time it's Miroku's fault for saying something stupid though he doesn't know when to stop, like in this instance he accused Sango of being a man because of her arm muscles. They aren't even that bulky at all and Sango needs them to be able to carry and throw Hiraikotsu around. Plus her punches really hurt because of all the training she does." Kagome said before running ahead to catch up with Sango to reassure her that Miroku was being an idiot and he was just jealous of her upper body strength.

As Ebisu had predicted they arrived at the village a little while after mid-day. There were villagers out buying produce and everyone was busy talking to one another. But as soon as the group of four stepped into the village everything went quite and all eyes were on the tasty ningens [humans] who were the first to walk through their village in a very long time. These were the guests that they requested for and everyone couldn't wait for them to arrive. They all grinned when they saw them check themselves into the village's only hotel.

"Is it just me or does this place give you the creeps?" Miroku asked while placing his belongings on the ground, they were all sharing one room together.

"Your intuition is as sharp as ever Miroku-chan everyone, make sure if you go somewhere another person is with you. Something in this village isn't right and we're here to figure it out." Ebisu informed his squad pushing up his glasses as he walked around their room.

"It probably has something to do with that giant glowing purple orb that's floating in the middle of that giant fountain giving off small bursts of energy every now and then." Kagome's reiki sizzled under her skin just looking out of the window and seeing it.

"I think you're right Kagome." Sango agreed quietly, there were footsteps approaching their room.

_Tap. Tap_

"Room Service." A voice hissed sliding open the door carrying a tray of freshly cooked food, the woman gracefully slid in placing them all down on a table another maid had set down.

"You must be mistaken Ma'am we didn't order any room service." Ebisu said waving around his hands wildly as more people came and went bringing many more dishes of food.

"This is the weary travelers' package. We give a meal to all who pass through our village so they can continue on with their journey with their bellies full of food," She said her eyes were an eerie yellow green color, she had on too much red lipstick, her hair was tangled in a giant nest and her nails were extremely sharp looking too they could pass for claws. "It's free of charge so please go ahead and eat as much as you heart desires. If you need anything else please don't hesitate to ask. I'll be around servicing our other guests that are currently staying here."

"Alright who can say no to all this free food, they must be crazy." Kagome said smiling happily sitting down at the table and breaking apart the disposable chopsticks.

"Make sure that you add the tea leaves to your cups before pouring the hot water from the teapot into it." The woman said closing the door behind her wearing a massive grin that showed all her rows of sharp jagged teeth. 'They won't know they've been poisoned until it's too late, just like all those other ningens who have the 'pleasure' of staying here.'

"Well we do need our strength for later." Sango said as she dug into some okonomiyaki [pancake] it tasted a little odd... but maybe it was because she wasn't used to the seasonings.

"I suppose you're right," Miroku said as he sat down at the table waiting to Ebisu to finish serving himself some rice so that he also could take some. "Kagome what are you doing under the table?"

"My takoyaki [octopus dumpling] fell as I was trying to put it into my mouth! I didn't get to taste one yet," Kagome grumbled finally grabbing the pesky dumpling that kept running away from her and throwing it away in the trash with a sad sigh before grabbing another one in her chopsticks, but that one also managed to slip away from her too. "Get back here, you're supposed to go into my tummy. Not roll around on the dirty floor you stupid takoyaki!"

"Be careful! You're going to hit your head on the end of the-"

"Itai! [Ouch!]" Kagome cried out holding her head and rubbing the throbbing lump that had grown she sighed as she wasted another morsel of food by throwing it away in the trash.

"-table, now don't say I didn't try to warn you." Miroku shrugged his shoulder placing vegetables into his mouth, there was something that was making his stomach feel uneasy.

"After we finish eating all of us can go to the village leader to deliver those herbs." Ebisu said putting a spoonful of chicken and rice into his mouth. The numbing sensation in his mouth was getting worse, so it wasn't just his imagination- there had to be something wrong with the food.

"Ano guys, I don't want to startle you or anything but just so you know, this food is poisoned!" Kagome said spitting out what she had previously put into her mouth. Everyone else had dropped their eating utensils their mouths were all hanging open. They could tell that she wasn't joking because they had all tasted something odd. They didn't want to point it out in case it was just the food item that they were consuming.

"Kirara stop eating the food it's no good!" Sango yelled as she spat out the food that had been in her mouth.

"I knew there was something wrong with this food but I have never heard of another village poisoning mere genin shinobi that they hired to help them! Maybe they thought chuunin's would be sent to complete this mission but Konoha has never done anything to anger this village. I just don't understand why they would want to kill any of us." Ebisu said the color had drained from his face.

"It's because everyone here is a youkai and they like the taste of ningen flesh!" Miroku was using both of his hands to scrape his tongue clean.

Kagome watched with mild amusement as everyone tried to make themselves vomit so they could rid their bodies of the toxins. "You know we have the antidote right?"

"Where's the antidote?" Ebisu asked feverishly grabbing Kagome by the shoulders and shaking her back and forth. He felt like he was going to be sick if she withheld the information.

"In your bag, the herbs we're supposed to deliver just put three of those leaves in your cup pour boiling water onto it wait five minutes. Then when it changes into a medium brownish color you can drink it. You should feel back to normal in ten minutes." Kagome said watching as everyone scrambled to put the correct amount of leaves into their cups before pouring the steaming water onto it. They stared at their cups anxiously as sweat being to form on their brows.

"I've already prepared you a cup Kagome-kun," Ebisu said his breathing had gotten faster when he pointed to the cup beside his one. "Alright five minutes it up!"

"Here you go Kirara this one is for you, drink up." Sango said pouring the liquid onto a dish and placed it on the ground while rubbing her throat after drinking down the burning hot liquid.

'Man if this is how they acted when they found out about this they wouldn't have lasted a week of Obaa-chan's training.' Kagome thought to herself as she drank down the contents of the cup. It was the same bitterness her taste buds had tasted many times prior to this day yet they still all cringed when the hot substance passed over them.

"Won't the hostess be suspicious when she comes back to check on how we're doing to see us still alive? Another thing that I'm curious about is why these youkai want so much of those particular herbs given to them. If that dried plants only purpose is to cure this poison that they've been giving to travelers, how are the youkai getting poisoned because of that, unless…." Miroku asked looking at the many empty plates that were in front of him.

"They _have_ been eating them and getting poisoned that way." Sango finished his sentence receiving a solemn nod of confirmation that, that was what he was going to say.

"Eating them?" Ebisu asked his voice rather high pitched, he had never ever been to a youkai village before. As a matter of fact he didn't know any _villages_ like this one existed until now. Why was he the only one freaking out while the kids were acting rather calm about the matter as if it were normal occurrence for them!

Youkai had started appearing well before the Kyuubi attacked Konoha there were very few of them only popping up every couple of years or so, but most of them were easily dispatched and it was extremely rare for anyone to be harmed by a youkai. It wasn't until around the time the Kyuubi attacked that youkai attacks became more and more frequent but the destruction that they caused would never be compared to the massive scale damage that the fox youkai caused. Then after the Kyuubi was sealed in Naruto, more youkai started appearing on a regular basis. Sometimes even in hordes completely destroying an entire village in one night leaving no survivors only torn up half eaten carcasses. Until three survivors were found in a destroyed village and they were brought to Konoha.

"I wouldn't talk so loudly if I were you Ebisu-sensei, most youkai have enhanced senses. That means not only can they hear things further away but they can smell fear among other scents on the human body." Kagome wriggled her nose tapping on it with her index finger.

"Back to Miroku's question, maybe we can just pretend like everything is normal when the hostess returns. I don't think she'd come right out and say 'why aren't you dead' and that she tried to kill us." Sango said pushing her plate in away from her, she wasn't hungry anymore.

"I think you're right. If anything she'd probably just add more poison too our 'complimentary dinner'," Miroku said shrugging his shoulders. "Well it's worth a shot, Ebisu-sensei what are we going to do about those bad youkai we were sent here to get rid of since… well we were just poisoned and that doesn't classify these ones as good, what do you think we should do?"

* * *

What is your greatest fear?

Best review for the last chapter: Masquerade-Ninja


	18. Master

Pages: 10

Words: 5, 263

Chapter Eighteen: Master

* * *

"I- uh- that was what I was just about to say, brilliant plan and we will just have to deal with that obstacle when it comes along. This mission has become too dangerous, especially for Kagome-kun's first mission this is-"

"Psst, sumimasen! [Excuse me!] I am the village leader here, I was the one that requested you come and I need to talk to you very quickly! Help me in before anyone hears me," Once they had pulled him in they could see that this man was bald and pudgy. His black beady eyes were almost set to the side of his head, his skin was grayish in color but had big splotches of brown all over his face, he had long whiskers coming out of a round face and had a nose that was stubby, he had a mustache and there were two pointy tusks sticking out from the corners of his mouth. "Yo-you're ju-just a- bunch of chil-children! Oh no, this simply won't do at all! Oh no what have I done? Right this-this is not good at all."

"I am the supervising Jounin and I was given this mission by the Hokage of our village. We were just on our way to deliver the herbs…. what is the problem-?"

"The herbs right, Buu is the name. I thought that Konoha would send more intimidating looking shinobi then you guys! This is not good at all! I got you guys into this though so…right then right." Buu was starting to sweat he pulled out a napkin and dabbed at his forehead.

"What's the problem Buu-san?" Miroku asked looking at the village youkai leader, who closely resembled an aquatic mammal, the walrus.

"Alright you bunch will have to do. There is simply no time, no time left at all. Where to begin, hmmm were to begin indeed, right then. This village you're residing in now it's a youkai village. Now don't freak out, the freak out is unnecessary because contrary to popular belief not all youkai are-" Buu's eyes suddenly widened and he jumped out the window.

"Did he just-? Why did he-?" Ebisu's mind was spinning he surely had to be dreaming. He must be at home still in bed because he was so mentally exhausted from completing his other mission.

"This is getting rather complicated." Sango said placing her head into her hands looking down at Kirara, who was sitting in her lap, nodded back.

_Tap. Tap _

"Is everything alright in there, it is awfully quite." The same youkai's voice hissed after knocking on the other side of the door. She knew that they were most likely already dead. Only on a rare few occasions did it take a couple hours longer for the poison to work through certain ningen's system.

"Hai! Everything is alright." Ebisu said making sure he was breathing deeply and relaxed so the youkai didn't smell the fear on him. He was a Jounin, so if he put his mind to it he could do anything, like not pee in his pants!

"Nani?- I mean that is good! I will come in now and take those bothersome plates away from you," She came in and gathered them all in one swoop, her yellow green eyes were narrowed and she hissed when none of them seemed to be showing the effects of the poison just yet. "How was the meal? Did you find it to your liking?"

"Hai." Was everyone's response to the question, making the youkai seethe in anger, but if she were to blow their cover now she would be punished by the others. So she forced herself to bow low to the ground before leaving the room.

"Ano, Buu-san she's gone now." Kagome said looking out of the window where he was hiding in a haystack.

"Right then, right help me back in. Same as before right," Buu sat back down brushing the pieces of dried grass from his expensive looking suit. "As I was saying before not all youkai are bad, take me for example. None of these youkai living here were bad, not until a man with a long hair and a long tongue, a snake youkai if you will, that was travelling with the company of younger girl. They came here and placed that glowing purple orb thing in our village telling us that it would protect us from the ningens- I mean all humans that wanted us all dead. Only after a couple of days everyone in the village started to change- everyone was shedding their human disguises and walking around in their youkai forms more or less! For the safety of our villagers and regular humans that walk by it was agreed that we have our disguises in place! It's terrible! I'm one of the few that haven't lost their minds yet. I would remove that orb myself but it is too high and its being guarded closely and the villagers will surely kill me if they think that I am turning against them."

"There was nowhere else for you to turn," Ebisu was starting to understand the situation now. "Why did you write in the mission description that that all we were supposed to be doing was 'get rid of some youkai that keep attacking peaceful villagers who come out at night' that's the only thing that I don't get. This could have been classified as a higher mission class."

"Right it was in my haste in trying to write the letter and get it delivered before any youkai noticed I must have mixed up what I was trying to say. What I wanted to say was this is a request from the leader of a peaceful youkai village. Villagers who come to this village are at risk of being attacked by youkai at night however they are not in their right minds. I was going to inform whoever was sent here of the other details before they arrived at the village but the villagers had already smelled you guys. I was too late!" Buu whispered urgently under his breath his eyes looked wild and crazy. "It's not safe here, especially for children like yourselves you should all leave right that's it you have to-"

"What's this! Buu you're such a sneaky little scoundrel! I knew we couldn't trust you!" The woman who had served them had come back and broke through the door hissing angrily as her body started to change she grew a long whip like tail and her skin started to become yellow and scaly. More of the other youkai workers there were also changing and trying to fight their way to get through the door.

"Kinu sweetheart you're not thinking straight, no one is this is village-" Buu was cut off when a clawed hand swiped at his face drawing out some blood. This youkai was his mate, but she wasn't acting like she normally did and it was tearing him up inside and now on the outside. He slumped to the ground feeling defeated, he had let this happen.

"Buu-san you can't stay here you're coming with us." Ebisu said grabbing the heavy man and went out the window after he was sure his students had already jumped through.

"It's that orb it's what's doing this and soon it will be dark out, right, which will make it even harder for you ningens to see! I've dug you all a very deep grave, right that's it we're all doomed!" Buu cried flattening down his mustache as he jumped out of Ebisu's arms.

"Kagome-kun you find a hiding spot and make sure you guard Buu-san while Sango-chan, Miroku-chan and I go retrieve that orb. Make sure you can see us incase anything happens. Guard him to the best of your ability." Ebisu said as they all crouched down with their backpacks back on their backs he then nodded and Miroku, Sango, Kirara and himself took off.

"Getting that orb is no easy task at all! Right that's it they're doomed, I'm doomed!" Buu groaned closing his eyes and rubbed his bald head furiously with his chubby hands.

"Don't worry I'm here to protect you!" Kagome said cheerily pointing to her face though it only seemed to make everything worse.

"Doomed tiny human child right, I appreciate you trying to comfort me but- right it's only making it worse! They'll tear you into pieces and use your bones for- right well for toothpicks! Everyone lived such normal lives here there wasn't a care in the world until that man brought that orb here. Am I really safe with you, right, probably not you should get away, get as far away from this village as you can! Right, but you stand no chance there bigger, stronger and faster than you running away will only make it worse! You're short! Right that means that your legs will certainly not carry you very far-"

"Ano…." She looked on as Buu continued to rant her eye was twitching madly as he continued to insult her. Just one swift punch to the head...

"Found the traitor and one of the ningens! ALL OF YOU, OVER HERE!" A woman's head announced as it wrapped itself around the corner her body was that of a large snake and she started to coil her body around Kagome and Buu in an attempt to constrict her prey.

"That's our queue that it's time to get out of here." Kagome said wrapping her arms over Buu's arms grabbing him like that, so they were back to back since he was quite larger than her and a lot heavier. If she carried him in her arms she wouldn't have been able to see over his blubbery stomach. She bent down then pushed off and jumped onto a rooftop where a giant skull with horns, teeth and had an ox's body was up there waiting for them. It was snorting and throwing its head around excitedly stomping around.

"Ningen!" It cried drooling at the mouth, tearing up the tiles of the roof with its hooves as it charged its horns heading straight for her body.

"Right, what's going on I can't see a thing!" Buu cried struggling against the small girl who was carrying him around on her back. As he was turning his head slightly to look at what youkai was coming at them she jumped back down to the ground and ran into an alleyway but ran back out almost immediately as she went in as youkai continued to tear up the sides of the buildings as they all went after her. They climbed over reach other wildly trying to be the first to dig into her flesh. Buu's grunted as a chunk of his body was almost taken out by the village's baker, in order to get to the ningen child. "Stop this all of you at once you're acting like a bunch of animals! We used to be civilized, remember that?"

"GWARWEERRRRR, GIVE US THE NINGEN!" They cried closing in on their prize their eyes were wild and feral.

"Buu-san you're too heavy and they're after me so I'm going to toss you into that dumpster over there and I want you to stay in there until all of this is over." Kagome informed the heavy youkai she was carrying just as she tossed him into the open container of garbage. Once Buu was off her back she was able to run away much faster and could defend herself using her arms if she needed to. Using her chakra to stick to a side of a building she pushed off of it and grabbed onto the side of the other building landing behind an enormous horse demon that had pure black eyes and fangs but it was too late when she sensed the youkai in front of her.

"Fresh ningen!" It roared out batting its orange wings behind it, this youkai was round its one giant purple eye took up most of the space on its body, there was a small horn on its head and as it spoke, sharp rows of teeth smashed together. It reached out to swipe at the tasty ningen child with its short arms.

Kagome brought out her leg with reiki infused into it and kicked it straight in the eye the youkai's screams of pain did not detour the others from coming. She quickly jumped onto another rooftop narrowly avoiding a mouth with serrated teeth from chopping off her leg. 'What was happening-?' she crumpled to her hands and knees and gasped for air.

"It's a miracle, the youkai guards have left." Ebisu panted those monsters just kept coming back for more they were fast fighting machines with lots of muscle. There had been a couple of moments he thought their claws or jaws would impale through his body and kill him. It was ironic now that he thought about it. This was always how he imaged Naruto would behave. Naruto came nothing close to acting like these _real_ blood thirsty youkai. Sure on other missions he had encountered youkai but it was only two or three of them, they were nothing in comparison to these ones.

"Maybe it has to do something with that orb, it has changed color and the pulses coming off of it has changed too! This must be controlling all of them it must have just changed the orders it was giving to those youkai, but to what? I'll get the orb. Kirara doesn't look like she can do it." Miroku announced looking up as he jumped up onto the first level of the tall fountain. As he continued to gain height he found that the bowls were slowly getting smaller, more slippery and the flow of water was also getting stronger. Luckily his chakra control was superb but even then it was still a challenge.

"Kirara, what's wrong girl?" Sango asked worriedly holding her bleeding left thigh in pain, as her neko companion placed her head on the ground- in between both her paws and furiously started to shake her head back and forth and growling loudly in pain. All four of them looked worse for wear and everyone's clothing was torn, they were all bleeding.

"The orb has turned into a whitish color this- this is reiki! It's drawing it straight from a nearby source too, over there….on that rooftop. KAGOME! KAGOME LOOK OUT! KAGOME!" Miroku yelled as more youkai were surrounding her, all of their eyes were gleaming blood red. They didn't look like they wanted to kill her just capture her, for reasons unknown.

"Miroku-chan you focus on getting that orb and Sango-chan you take care of Kirara I'm going assist our newest squad member." Ebisu ordered before running off in the direction all the youkai were going to. 'Even if she can be a gaki she's still a part of my team. No part of my team is going to die, not if I can help it! I can't let her hurt by these beasts. That would also look bad on my part, as a supreme jounin leader. My reputation will not be ruined!"

Someone was calling her name out. Who was it? It sounded like Miroku. Kagome forced her eyes open and moved out of the way but hadn't properly judged how far to move, claws swiped along the front of her body tearing her flesh as a paw tried to grab her. Clutching her mid-section she slid through the legs of the youkai and fell straight off of the roof. She lay there where she had fallen in a daze, then remembered that she had to get away. So scrambled up and ran unsteadily behind a building and slid down the rough surface. This was unimaginable pain on a whole new level. Never had she experienced anything like it. Every centimeter of her body felt like it was being slowly unraveled and stretched apart. When she breathed out it her reiki burned its way out of her throat. Tears had started to burn their way out of her eyes sliding down her cheeks before dripping off of her face. After a couple moments of resting in that spot she forced her muscles to keep moving so that she could crawl away from all the youkai that were still following her.

"We have to get that ningen! It is her that has reiki powers! Naraku will be most pleased with the youkai that bring her to him. They will be able to get anything they desire." A youkai's gargled voice said to another as they tracked down the scent of the girl. All the youkai around her eye's also glowed red as they gained part of their thinking ability back. It was telling all of them to get the girl with the spiritual powers and bring it to their master. The same phrase was repeated over and over again in their skulls, becoming in sync with their heartbeats.

"Naraku! Well then I will find that ningen before any of you do! I want Naraku to grant me unimaginable power as well as make me the most beautiful youkai there is!" They were only too happy to want to capture the ningen in exchange for whatever they wanted. That was Naraku's promise to them through one of his detachments who travelled alongside a girl who kept them all in line with her powers.

"EGGGGGGGGRRR!" The noises of fighting breaking out among all of the youkai made it a little bit easier for Kagome to drag herself away from them in an attempt to escape. They all wanted to be the ones who brought the ningen to Naraku! There were just too many of them and they started to fight among themselves.

"Right, where do you think you're going? I will be the one to take you to my master Naraku right then don't try and run away!" Buu said, human disguise gone when he felt the calling of the orb. His youkai form was not surprising, he was a supersized walrus. The dangerous looking parts of him were his massive gleaming tusks and his spiky tail. Swinging his tail around the spikes pierced the side of her body, making it easier for his tail to lift and throw Kagome's body against a tall building, creating an indent. He was going to knock the girl out so it would be easier to bring her to his master.

"Kagome-kun!" Ebisu yelled arriving there to see his genin falling to the ground. He quickly pushed off buildings and caught her as she was falling before she hit the ground. A thin layer of sweat coated her body and she was panting. He tucked her under his arm as he escaped from the walrus youkai. The sounds of youkai roaring was getting louder more of them were coming down the alleyway! He was already forming hand signs. "_Doton Doryuuheki no jutsu_! [Earth Rising Barrier]" Out of his mouth he rapidly spat out mud as he jumped away he continued to strengthen the mud wall with more balls of mud that messily flew out of his mouth. Some of them missed the muddy barrier he was trying to create, making it slightly weaker than it normally would have been. When he was done he used his tattered sleeve to wipe the corners of his mouth. Then he cloned them both and sent the clones running onto the rooftops in the direction the youkai were in, so that they could serve as a distraction.

'They're already destroying the barrier! I'll have to use it there is no other way out.' His eyes narrowed. "_Kori shinchu no jutsu_! [Mind Affect]" He didn't want to use the genjutsu, since he knew it would drain almost all of his leftover charka that he had left from the jutsus he used against the previous youkai. The ones he had been fighting in order to get to the orb. On the bright side the jutsu would keep a vast majority of youkai from getting to them. Since it would greatly confuse all of the ones he had captured in the illusion. They wouldn't be able to dispel it. It would seem that they kept going around and around in circles until they become too mentally and physically exhausted to continue.

"Ebisu-sensei?" Kagome asked finally opening her eyes to look up to him. Her breathing was slowly going back to normal as he ran down the street trying to get as much distance between him and the mud wall that had already crumbled. 'Those youkai were talking about Naraku…' Her senses were greatly dulled, but she was pretty sure some youkai were still following them scaling the rooftops waiting for the perfect moment to pounce on them. Turns out she was correct, they jumped down and were stalking them from behind.

"Hai. I'm going to place you down for a moment okay?" Ebisu quickly propped her up against a building had giant claw marks tearing through it. She was just within his reach incase a youkai tried to grab her. He stood back from the alleyway he was going to perform the same technique he had used before. "_Doton Doryuuheki no jutsu_!" Mud once again spewed out from his mouth in balls, piling up to create a strong barrier to hinder the movement of all the youkai that were still after them. They were the few that had not been in the group that he cast a genjutsu on. Ebisu was panting as well as sweating heavily as he grabbed Kagome and placed her under his arm again as he took off again.

"Mou, I don't get it! Why do my eyes feel funny?" The frustration in her voice could be heard when she questioned herself, out loud, holding her hands to her eyes. It wasn't itchy feeling they just didn't feel like they normally did. One thing she had noticed was that they always felt this way whenever hand signs where shown to her, it was getting on her nerves. Sometimes she would rub at her eyes to make the unusual sensation go away but it didn't help.

"This has been a long day, you're just tired. The second mud barrier is holding up for now, that's good," Ebisu said his eyes darting around all over the place, it was dangerous and he was almost completely drained. There were just too many youkai! Ebisu let out a breath of relief when he could finally see Miroku, who was still climbing up the fountain. The boy was almost at the very top only twenty more or so levels to go before he reached the orb. "Everyone's up ahead and rubbing your eyes will only make them turn red."

"Un, un I've heard that saying so many times." She muttered dropping her arms to her sides. At least her body was starting to hurt less…that was until Ebisu accidentally let go of her in mid jump. It may have been _partially _due to his leg was punctured by ten inch long teeth that where attached to the jaws of a massive white fury mouth. Air hastily exited out from her lungs when she crashed into the armored chest of some sort of half bird half reptile youkai. It screeched loudly spreading out its wings and puffing out its body angrily. The talons from its feet dug into both of her shoulders as it lifted her off the ground. Strong gusts of winds were created with just one flap and soon everything on the ground was becoming smaller and smaller…

"Urgrawr!"

The bear youkai that had attacked Ebisu growled thrashing its head around madly in order to tear off his leg. Through all the pain Ebisu reached down into his holster and retrieved a kunai and sliced into its sensitive snout. He grunted in pain when his body connected with the hard stone pathway, salvia flew out from his mouth. Drawing in a jagged breath he formed some hand signs as the youkai that was starting to become blurry and out of focus. "_**Suiton Suijinheki**__ no jutsu_!" The water bullets shot out of his mouth and smashed against the bear pushing it back as Ebisu pumped out more water, using the fountain as the source of liquid for the jutsu.

"Hiraikotsu!" The giant boomerang came whizzing down the street and twirled around continuously hitting the youkai's legs until it was forced to drop its prize in order to defend itself from the weapon. Sango ran as fast as she could as her eyes followed Kagome's free falling body that was already so close to hitting the ground. "KAGOME!" Using her knee guards on her fighting outfit Sango slid on them holding her arms out ready for the impact. Only a familiar shape jumped out of the shadows and managed to grab the girl first. "Kirara!" The neko landed then roughly dropped the girl into Sango's arms before running at a building and smashing her head against it growling. Naraku's disgusting voice was in her head trying to bring her youkai blood to boil by telling her to get the girl and bring it to him and he would reward her. Kirara's mind had become strong from being controlled by other youkai, as well as all the encounters with Naraku and through sheer willpower she was able push the command to the back of her mind.

"_Konoha Senpuu _[Konoha Hurricane] sensei you just can't lay on the ground like that!" Sango scolded after kicking back the bear youkai that was charging at him. "And to think you yell at Miroku and I for taking too long of a break in between you training sessions, hypocrite. Kirara go make sure Miroku can get that orb and then bring him here onegai."

"Grrawrrr." Kirara nodded and took off down the street her claws clacking against the stones growing quieter the further away she got.

"Ha ah… Sango-chan, ahh….I hate to admit this to you, but I'm almost out of chakra and I've lost a lot of blood," Ebisu chuckled with a weak grin on his face, he leaned back against a building, assessing how badly the injury on his leg was while his sweaty black hair escaped from the Konoha hitai-ite he always had tied around his head. "An excellent shinobi, like me, knows when they have to call it quits. If I use anymore chakra, I'll die. After casting that genjutsu I should have stopped…too late to say that now. Kagome-kun how are you doing, are you alright?"

The girl nodded her head, pushing against the side of a building to help her stand up. The smell of her own drying blood that was all over her tattered remains of her clothes, invaded her nostrils. Fresh blood leaked from her shoulders that had recently been pierced by the talons of the last youkai. Her head was hanging down as her fingertips brushed along the brick wall, sweat dripped off her nose. "…Un."

"I'll have to get Hiraikotsu later," Sango reminded herself as she reached back and unzipped her backpack and pulled out a sickle and chain made from youkai bones. Wielding it she blocked a powerful attack from the paw of the youkai who had come back. Swinging around the sickle she waited for the perfect moment to attack. None of them were trying to kill any of these youkai. They were just trying to knock them out. It would have been easier if they could just kill them. Rolling underneath the youkai she wrapped the chain around its legs and ran out from underneath it and pulled as hard as she could on the chain making the bear topple over. Sango could see Hiraikotsu protruding from the side of a building just a couple of blocks away.

She had turned around and was just about to run off and get it but the youkai had decided that the battle still wasn't over. It turned its head around and was about to snap its jaw close around Sango's chest. Instead the bear got its mouth jammed open with the sharp end of the sickle. She was struggling to push back on the weapon to keep the youkai's body from getting closer to her so it couldn't use its claws. If she was pushing back then the bear could be using all of its legs to push back against her. This was just her luck; the bird youkai that had grabbed Kagome before had come back and was headed directly for- "Ebisu-sensei watch out!"

Ebisu shut his eyes as the youkai from before circled in the sky before coming at him with glistening blood coated black talons headed to pierce through his body. He had no energy left to even move. This was the end for him. There was a smirk on his bruised and swollen face. So this is it? His heart rate skyrocketed. Now that he thought about it, there were so many things he wished he had done but there were also a lot of things he was thankful for. He was glad to have met such wonderful people in his life and was honored to be given a team of such talent Genin even if he only knew Kagome for a short while she was still able to change him. Though he did regret not spending as much time in the company of the other sex, he waited for the impending death, continuing to list the moments that had made his life worth living. He was just sorry that his Genin's would have to get another jounin instructor. One that would not be as talented and wouldn't know as many skills and techniques as he does… or did, do people remember the jutsus they learned when they're in heaven? Perhaps for all the people he had killed he would be going elsewhere. He was about to find out….suddenly Ebisu was brought back down to earth when he was roughly shoved out of the way.

"Oi, wari! [sorry!] You can't have him. This guy still owes me an all you can eat ramen at Ichiraku Ramen!" Kagome grunted out as the talons from the youkai dug into her the arm that she used to shove Ebisu out of the way. Breathing heavily she tore her bloody arm back. Black chakra engulfed her right hand in a big burst that was twice the size of Kagome. Throwing all of her body weight into the punch the bird youkai went completely through a building before slamming into the one behind that one. It stayed there momentarily before removing itself from the rubble and dove forward in order to swipe its talons at its prey. Somehow Kagome had already foreseen the attack coming and dodged one of the scaly feet and blocked the other. Then the youkai took off in flight again waiting until the injured victim became too tired to fight back. Kagome relaxed and slid down the side of the building holding her left arm to her chest. She slowly turned her head to face her wide eyed sensei. "It was a promise. Was it not?"

"Hai Kagome-kun….it was," Ebisu could feel his mouth slacken when she finally faced him. There was no mistaking it, it was staring him directly in the eyes. How could he not notice? That Kagome Higurashi had the _Uchiha_ signature clan trait in her eyes. It was a breathy whisper that came out of his mouth, "Sharingan…"

* * *

What do you believe is the true purpose of life?

Best review for the last chapter: WraithReaper


	19. Capture Her

Pages: 12

Words: 5,753

Chaper nineteen: Capture Her

* * *

By the time sickle shattered under the pressure of the youkai's jaw as it ran after Sango, she had been able to retrieve Hiraikotsu, while the bear couldn't really attack her. She swung the weapon around and gave the bear youkai two good whacks in the back of the head rendering it unconscious. Then she ran back over to where Ebisu and Kagome to make that they were still alive. Her attention was drawn to the bird youkai that was starting to fly closer to the ground readying itself for its next attack. Sango's eyes flicked over to Kirara whom had successfully retrieved Miroku and the sphere.

"What should I do with the orb?" Miroku yelled as he held the giant beach ball sized sphere while Kirara flew down giving him enough time to hop off and for Sango to hop on so that they could bring down the bothersome bird youkai. It was circling in the sky waiting for the perfect chance to strike again.

"This is what's controlling them," Kagome said looking at the glassy surface. "What's with my eyes?" She scooted closer to the reflective orb to examine them. They were red and she had two commas in her left eye and three commas in her right one. There was also a small white dot in the center of each comma. Where had she seen eyes similar to these before? Kagome reached out her right hand and ran it along the smooth surface noting the small crack on the surface. Her attention shifted past her reflection and stared into the orb watching her energy swirling around trapped inside.

"My friend, what _is _with your eyes?" A shiver went down Miroky's spine as Kagome's red eyes locked onto his, they gave him the chills. They were following his every fidget- no actually it was more like he was looking at the spot before he had even fidgeted. It was creeping him out even more as her eyes watched him. He preferred Kagome's inviting bright blue eyes better. These eyes she had now made her looked frighteningly cold- they could very well belong to the eyes of a heartless killer.

"It's a Kekkei genkai. Like how only you are the only one to have the Kazaana Miroku-kun. Kagome-chan has something known as the _Sharingan_." Ebisu looked up at the darkening sky. Everyone was probably too busy fighting to notice that the sun had set hours ago. His mind was fuddled those were the signs of a headache beginning.

"Sha-rin-gan?" She pointed to her eyes that had widened in shock. "What do you mean this is the Sharingan?...I thought only Uchiha members like Sasuke were the only ones who could have it! I don't have Uchiha blood running through my veins. There has to be some sort of mistake."

"No. There is no mistake that is the Sharingan Kagome-chan," Ebisu paused momentarily wondering what he should do. "You'll need to receive training on how to utilize it. I know of a highly skilled shinobi back in Konoha. I might be able to convince him into teaching you. I've been on a couple of missions with him back in the day." He said as his eyes glazed over, his mind went to a far off place before they slowly started to close and he slumped over snoring loudly.

"Well at least we know Ebisu-sensei isn't dead." Miroku said watching as Sango jumped off Kirara's back. She looked so fearless her hair long brown flowing behind her in the wind, the features on her face illuminated by the light of the orb. In a past life he might have been able to fall in love with her but now he saw her more of an abusive violent younger sister.

"So about this orb…" Sango trailed off tapping her knuckles against the hard surface.

"Ah- yes! Back to the problem at hand- What should we do with it? This is obviously what is controlling all of those youkai and it absorbed all of your reiki Kagome. I wanted to smash it so I dropped it off the side of the fountain and from that height all it made was this tiny crack in the side. Meaning that whatever this is made out of is really strong. I'm positive the best route to go down; is to break this open. That way it will release the youkai that are under its spell and hopefully give Kagome back her reiki."

"I say we blow it up. We can place these exploding tags that only explode when something is thrown at it, around the weakest point. So we can retreat to a far enough distance." Sango said pulling a whole roll of exploding notes out from her red pouch only stopping when she caught a quick glimpse of Kagome's eyes. "Whoa, what's with those eyes of yours? I've told you not to rub them so many times before."

"It's not because I rubbed my eyes. I'll explain later." Kagome grumbled as her beaten body was placed on Kirara's back along with their sleeping sensei. Once the exploding notes were in place and the bear youkai was dragged away from that area. Sango and Miroku jumped onto Kirara's back. Immediately the neko took off running as far away as possible. When they got to the point where there had reached the end of Sango's wire, she pulled on it to set off the trap she had set up. A rock would be hurled at the orb covered in non self destructive exploding tags and-

_KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM_

The point of the explosive tags that didn't blow up after awhile was so a trap could be set off by someone or something. Reiki rushed back into Kagome's beaten body and she couldn't tell what was more excruciating. Her reiki being pulled out her body or getting it back into her body. It was probably an agonizing tie. Her entire body shuddered so violently, her eyes clenched shut and she bit down on the inside of her cheek to keep herself from crying out. That's all she could remember before losing complete consciousness.

"Farewell honored guests! You are free to visit our village anytime arigato for all the help!" The villagers cried bowing to show their respect. Their minds have all been enslaved by that orb and the four ningens that set them free stayed for two weeks in their village. A couple of days after all the youkai got their minds back the ningens gave them the herbs to counteract the poison that some of them had in their system and then spent a couple more days recovering in their village hospital. Then after they had recovered they helped rebuild their village. Most of the youkai's opinions had changed not _all _ningens were bad, these ones were especially nice.

"Right then all of you, I owe everything to you, right. I just wanted to let you know that there are two other villages that I know of like ours. I was trying to get in contact with their village leaders, right; we are close friends you see. However there is no response and I am thinking the same thing that happened to our village. The same fate has fallen onto their village also! I've circled their hidden locations on this map that I am going to entrust to you. If it's not too much to ask before you return to your village…Would you check up on these villages onegai? Money is not an issue I will be glad to pay you lot twice- right three times as much! For all you've done, just tell the two youkai leaders to send me one of their best messengers with a message signed by them. Right, you are strong shinobi so none of you should have any problems." Buu said rubbing the top of his head as he spoke, trying to butter them up.

"Buu-san I don't mean to be impolite, but why don't you have one of your messenger's see if the other village is all right?" Ebisu said wobbling around on crutches, it turns out the bear youkai had fractured his leg. He really didn't want to face another horde of _real_ bloodthirsty youkai not after the last encounter.

"This is well, embarrassing but our village doesn't have any messengers none of the youkai here want to leave this village. The citizens are too scared that they will be attacked and killed by stray shinobi. I can't force anyone to go either. Even though the villages are quite close together no one is willing to do it."

"Okay my squad and I can do it." Ebisu said his body slumped over in pain. He took the map from Buu briefly looked at it with his group then tucked it away in his back pouch. He didn't know why but the Jounin vest just never complimented his figure, that's why he never wore one. It would make life easier with all those pockets though….he must have some tucked away safely in the back of his closet somewhere.

"Right I'll have received two messages from the other villages when you're done and then I'll send one of the messengers over to Konoha with double the money and a giant 'thank you' note from everyone in the village." Buu said waving as the shinobi went on their way.

"I bet Gai's team has never been on an extended mission like this one!" Sango said excitedly with a big smile across her face. A light pink fighting kimono mauve rectangles all over it and at the bottom was some light green trim loosely hugged her body with. Her favorite skin tight fighting outfit (that had been patched up again) was underneath her regular clothes.

"This time we should go in with some sort of strategy. Since now that we know what we are dealing with. What was effective and what wasn't? I know that dropping the orb from a high height will make it crack and if exploding tags are attached to that area it can be destroyed that way." Miroku thought aloud.

"Well using reiki is out of the question," Kagome grumbled she sat on top of Kirara's back even though most of her wounds had already healed up, this is the longest time her whole entire body hurt. It was as if every single nerve had been hit with a bolt of lightning the way her reiki was ripped out then absorbed back into her body. "If there is a creepy orb or something similar it will suck it out of you."

"Their food is probably poisoned so to be safe, none of us should eat it." Sango chimed in adding to the growing list.

"Miroku-kun this is a wonderful idea which reminds me I am going to teach you a new genjutsu! Since this method seemed to be the most effective out of all the jutsus I used against the youkai it didn't harm any of them but kept them from attacking us as we went about our business." Ebisu said as Miroku walked slower so he could walk beside his crutches. He started to explain the basics of the genjutsu and when it was a good time to use it and when it wasn't.

"Let's see the map," Kagome held out her hand. They had been walking for a very long time talking among themselves. Mainly Ebisu was teaching Miroku while Sango and Kagome talked to one another, about anything that crossed their minds. She opened up the map, the same time a strong gust of wind went by blowing it out of her weak hands. Luckily Sango reacted quickly and threw four shuriken at the paper pinning it to a tree. "We're almost there. I think we should take a break and get some lunch. There's a river up ahead. Hopefully there is lots of fishies!"

"Kai! [Cancel]" Kagome said dispelling the genjutsu. Ebisu kept casting it on her as she stiffly walked around collecting wood with Sango to build a fire. They were building one so they could cook all the fish that they had caught. While Ebisu was showing Miroku how the jutsu should be executed telling him to use Sango as his unwilling target. The shinobi sensei had decided to use Kagome because the small girl could show no violent tendencies at the moment and he didn't want set Sango off. Otherwise she would use his sore body as a training log for casting it on her.

"Now you try." Ebisu said taking a small break. The jutsu took quite a bit of his chakra but he could waste some in order to teach it to Miroku. This was just so the boy could get a feel for the technique. Since he would have to trap a wider range of targets of all shapes and sizes if the youkai in the towns they were going to, were like the ones in the village they had just come from.

"STOP IT! YOU KNOW I CAN'T GET OUT OF YOUR STUPID GENJUTSU! I'm going to pummel the _both_ of you when I get out of here!"

"So…Miroku-kun….. do you get it now?"

"….Hai." Both guys lay twitching on the ground in heaps with massive steaming red lumps all over their bodies made from Sango's fists.

* * *

"Ramen! Ramen! Ramen!"

"Kagome I don't know how you can have so much energy after coming here directly from that last village." Miroku whispered sounding completely exhausted as he was being carried piggyback style by Sango, who rolled her eyes at the comment. Miroku's whole body seemed to ach from the strain of holding the jutsu for an extended period of time.

"It's no wonder, I mean you and Ebisu-sensei were the ones doing all the hard work. Except this time only you had to cast that genjutsu, it took a lot of your chakra. While you were doing that, Kagome acted as a distraction while I got the orb, dropped it, and then made it explode." Kirara had been carrying Miroku but Sango had decided it was her turn to carry him because they were getting close to the village and judging from how Ebisu had reacted the first time he found out, she assumed the villagers probably weren't ready just yet to see Kirara's true form.

"See Miroku-kun, those physical training exercises I made you do improved your body strength and increased the amount of chakra you have by a considerable amount." Ebisu was still using his crutches to walk around. The youkai villages did not have any medic shinobi that could heal him up. As soon as he got back to the village he would go to the hospital then submit his report and findings about the sharingan in Kagome's eyes to the Sandaime. Or maybe he should do it the other way around… the possibilities.

"I'm starving." Kagome said rubbing her mid section; it was starting to feel like her own stomach was starting to digest itself. At least her muscles no longer hurt since she removed the weights she never felt better. The best part about these weights was that it trained the very muscle to make it stay in the same condition, even though the weights had been removed. As long as the person continued to do physical activity the results of wearing the weights would not eventually wear off. She was still uncertain about using her reiki so she wasn't able to heal Ebisu's leg.

"Well that's your fault. Why did you skip breakfast and not eat anything when we took that short break awhile ago?" Sango asked stopping to readjust the sleeping Miroku who was starting to slip off her back. The sight they made must have been hilarious. Miroku was a lot taller than she was and yet she was able to carry him with ease along with Hiraikotsu. 'I doubt he'd be able to reciprocate the actions.' She thought to herself dryly.

"That's because I wanted to save all the room I have in my stomach because Ebisu-sensei promised he was going to be treating me to Ichiraku Ramen as soon as we got back to the village!" She announced with a giant grin on her face when Ebisu had paled considerably.

"Un…as soon as we get there you can start eating. I have a couple of things to attend to before I can join you." The one thing he had learned travelling with his new Genin was that she ate, a lot. Partly that had to do with her using up so much chakra and or reiki everyday. This reminded him. He needed to talk to a certain retired ANBU. Ebisu was really started to regret the promise he made. He would be lucky, once he had paid for her meal that there was enough money left over to pay his rent.

"Do you know how long I've been waiting for this? Will all of our missions take about three weeks to complete? Just like the one we were just on?"

"Iie, just this one, we spent a lot of that time travelling, didn't you learn this in the academy?" Ebisu asked as Sango walked ahead of them having a conversation with the small neko on her shoulder.

"Ano…some of the lessons Iruka-sensei taught were really long and boring. So I slept through some of them."

"Nani?" He was shocked, how could-?

"Mou, it wasn't only me. Naru-kun and Shikamaru-kun did it too!"

"This is probably the reason why you ended up only being in the fourth place at the academy. With that Kekkei genkai you could have easily come second or even surpassed Uchiha-san!" Ebisu yelled his crutches resting under his armpits as he picked up Kagome and shook her back and forth. "What a waste! You could have done it if you weren't so lazy!"

"Iie. It always felt like I was cheating. I saw how hard Sango worked every single night to come second place out of her year before I left. It seemed wrong how easily I could pick up the material," Kagome said quietly looking down at her feet "Miroku didn't even work as hard as Sango and look where he ended up. While Sango stayed up so late practicing and reading that she would fall asleep at the table. Even Naru-kun worked harder than me on the school work. Just doesn't seem fair…"

"You can't help it if you're more naturally talented then others. It's a way of life as a shinobi. Sango-chan and Miroku-kun both have their strong points and have their weak points. If you're not trying the hardest that you can, you're not only letting other people down but you're also letting yourself down. That's what I call a waste," Ebisu said as he set Kagome back onto her feet. "Sango worked hard every night while at the academy and came out top five shinobi. Whereas Miroku-kun got almost perfects on all of his tests and quizzes but still graduated as one of the lowest scoring shinobi, yet that doesn't stop him. Miroku-kun is just too easily distracted by the sight of any pretty young girl walking by, he needs to stay focused. He's also not as physically strong as he could be. While on the other hand Sango-chan pushes herself way too hard at times. She needs to know when to stop. Despite having a lot of chakra she has a much harder time molding it and also has a terrible habit of not remembering the correct series of hand signs for even the simplest of jutsu's."

As Sango neared the gates sneeze three times 'I wonder who is talking about me' she looked up the pathway where her sensei and Kagome were. "Hey slowpokes come on! I can already see the Konoha gates. There's ramen waiting for you to devour it Kagome."

"Ramen!" Her eyes lit up and she ran past them all and soon found herself spinning around and around in one of the worn seats at the Ichiraku Ramen stand.

"Kagome-chan! You're back!" Ayame called out happily, clapping her hands together as Kagome's eyes swirled around in her sockets from dizziness.

"Kagome-chan it's great to see you back here. Where have you been for the last couple of weeks? And what will it be?" Teuchi, the owner of the ramen stand asked. This girl and Naruto were his best customers.

"I've been away on my very first mission! Everything and anything onegai, I'm not paying, everything I eat, right now, is on my Sensei!" Kagome said with an impossibly wide grin on her face.

"Alright no problem, oh Naruto-kun has been coming here almost every single night complaining about something. He's been busy doing, in his words, 'lame' missions around the village. He has become a lot more mature ever since he became a shinobi. You have too," Teuchi said while stirring his big pot of booth. "So are you ready to eat Kagome-chan?"

"Un! I skipped breakfast so I could eat even more and I came here right after my squad completed the mission!" Her stomach gurgled loudly to confirm what she had said. Soon the first of many bowls were placed in front of her.

"Oh Kami…." Ebisu groaned his glasses teetering at the end of his nose he slowly turned to the Sandaime who had come to verify the kekkei genkai in Kagome's eyes. "I promised to pay for all the ramen she could eat."

"Oh? There goes your entire paycheck from the mission," Sarutobi said chuckling as they got closer to the girl continued to slurp away at her bowl of noodles after choking on a mouthful while devouring it. "Kagome-chan, could I borrow you for a moment? Come over here onegai."

"Hai Hokage-sama," She said adding another empty bowl to the dangerously tall stack. Sliding off the seat she went back around the ramen stand were the Sandaime had gone. "I hope Ebisu-sensei brought enough money to pay for all my ramen. So why are we behind here? Naru-kun says you're a giant ecchi da [pervert] and he can defeat you using his sexy no jutsu. You're not going to do anything perverted to me are you?"

"…Iie," He said his eye violently twitching. They were behind the stand to get privacy from nosy villagers. Quickly he regained his composure. He had come to see if this girl really possessed the Uchiha clan trait. "I want you to send charka to your eyes."

"Ano, do I just make chakra appear in my hand then place my hand over my eyes? Or do I cover my eyes and then do it that way? It doesn't seem safe. Should I really be putting chakra into my eye balls?" Kagome asked holding up her right hand, palm facing up looking at the Hokage not knowing which way she was supposed to do it. 'Why is his eye so twitchy?'

'She really doesn't know-?' Sarutobi let out a puff of air from his lungs. "When sending chakra to your eyes I don't mean by using your hand. I believe you're supposed to close your eyes and let your chakra flow to your eyes." He watched as she shut her eyes tights and screwed up her face trying to do as he said.

"Anything?" She asked in a hopeful tone even though nothing felt different. Maybe he would give up and she could go back to eating her bowl of noodles before they got cold.

"Iie, try again." He told her patiently 'maybe this is Ebisu-san's way of trying to get back at me for placing her on his team in the first place. Hmmm that doesn't sound like him though. He would rather lecture me about it, then I'd have to tune him out, but then he would lecture me about not paying attention to why he was lecturing in the first place.' A sigh escaped his thin wrinkled lips.

"Uh…."

"Here watch my hands." Sarutobi formed the sign of Tora [Tiger] he could definitely see something flicker in her eyes. It was unfortunate that three days ago he had sent Kakashi along with team seven on a C class protection mission. Since Naruto had been ever so persistent on going on one. Otherwise he could have gotten the famous 'copy cat' shinobi to accompany him here.

"Wait, I think I know what to do," Her eyes closed she breathed out deep and when they snapped back open she could feel the difference and see it too. "Ebisu-sensei said that it's the Sharingan…but I thought only people like Sasuke could have it."

Sarutobi held Kagome's head between his hands and stared deeply into both her eyes. He had seen the Sharingan many times before, of course they belonged to now deceased Uchiha members….'I am certain I have seen those eyes somewhere before, but where?' He released her face and shook his head. "Indeed they do look like the Sharingan, but those white dots are unquestionably not a trait. I will be looking into this, arigato Kagome-kun, good job on your mission. If you want to, now you can go back to eating your ramen."

"So Hokage-sama you saw the kekkei genkai in her eyes didn't you?" Ebisu quietly asked as he walked over to where the Sandaime was standing. He still needed to use his crutches for the next two days even after the medic nins had healed him. The conversation took much longer than he had expected it would. Inwardly he grimaced when Kagome drove into another bowl of ramen.

"Hai, I did. Clearly she doesn't know how to control it. Once Kakashi and his team get back from their mission I will talk to him about training her. Until then continue training her as you normally would. I'm going back to the Hokage tower to do some research pertaining to this. I'll call you to my office if I need to."

"I understand Hokage-sama arigato," Ebisu said bowing the best that he could. When Kakashi came back he also wanted to talk to him. "Kagome-kun…how many bowls have you eaten?"

"Wakaranai [I don't know] but I'm really full now. Arigato for paying I'll see you tomorrow, ja ne [Bye] Teuchi-san, Ayame-san and Ebisu-sensei." Giving a small wave she hoped off the stool.

"Kagome-chan I've signed you up to do some D class missions tomorrow okay?" Ebisu told the girl whose belly hung out like a beer gut. 'After all she needs at least eight missions before I can enter her in the Chuunin exams.'

"Anytime Kagome-chan!" Teuchi and Ayame said bringing out a rolling pin and laughing insanely when they handed Ebisu the very long bill. He promptly fainted when he saw the final cost.

"Un alright see you tomorrow Ebisu-sensei!" She ran off laughing.

"There she is, alright Dai-kun let's go," Tomoki said turning back around to look at another one of the club member's that was dressed up like a girl. He wanted to do this prior to the academy graduation exam but it had taken his club a lot longer than he had expected to make the costume. Everything was worth it for Kagome-kun though. "You know what we're doing right?"

"We've practiced this so many times, of course I know." Apparently he resembled a girl more than any of the other members.

"I want to make sure nothing goes wrong," He said the plan was he was going to pretend to have a girlfriend, guys that were taken always made other girls want that guy. Then his 'girlfriend' who was actually Dai, dressed up as a girl first would bump into Kagome-kun 'accidentally' and then his 'girlfriend' would get 'her' purse stolen by another one of the members. So he would run after it and then other club members would pop out and create obstacles for him but eventually he would get the purse back and Kagome-kun would be watching and be so impressed by his heroic actions that she would squeal and jump into his arms and he would carry her off into the sunset and they'd live happily ever after. It was fool proof! "Okay, let's go!"

"Tomoki-kun you're so funny- opps I'm so sorry I didn't see you there!" Dai said using an airy high pitched voice while making kissy lips and batting his naturally long lashes. He got to touch Kagome! It was like a dream come true. She didn't look bothered when he had lightly bumped into her. Since he didn't want to accidentally put a bruise on her delicate body, since her skin was so pale and beautiful. He almost fainted because he was so close to her, but he had to stay strong out of the other twenty remaining members, he was chosen for this job.

"Oh Kagome-chan how unexpected and what a pleasant surprise to see you here," 'finally' Tomoki added in his head. He had been coming here every day for the last two weeks in hopes of seeing her. "This is my girlfriend…..don't you remember me? Tomoki? We went to the academy together. We were in the same class. I'm the president of the Kagome-chan fan club!" He turned around and cried waterfalls before regaining his composure and turning back to face her, she still looked confused.

"Uh sure?" Kagome scratched the side of her face with one finger, he did look a little familiar…

"While you two talk I have to look for something in my PURSE! Let me set it down on the ground- Oh no, Tomoki-kun that person they just stole-"

As soon as the 'thief' had grabbed the purse Kagome dropped down into a crouching position and swung her leg around knocking him off his feet. Then she leaned over the hooded person with her foot on the boy's chest preventing him from getting up if he tried to. "It's not nice to steal other people's stuff." Then she grabbed the purse back from the boy's hand and gave it back to Dai who had hearts in his eyes.

"Uh- arigato." What had happened to their extravagant plan? Dai really didn't care. Kagome looked so adorable, everything went in slow motion the way she spun around on the ground, her hair magnificently whirling around her head while her leg tripped the 'thief'. Plus she had touched the bag! He was never going to wash it.

"Don't mention it, well I'm gunna go I've got stuff to do." With that said she quickly walked away from the strange boys.

"Kagome-chan." Tomoki whined waterfalls coming out of his eyes again as he reached out a hand sobbing as he back had disappeared from view.

"Kagome-chan attacked me!" The boy still on the ground giggled while lying on the ground. He hugged his own body and squirmed around on the ground.

"I've got an idea. How about we capture her then take her back to our hideout and each of us can profess our love to her and then she can choose whoever she wants."

"I like that idea! We could use a rope to tie her up."

"How about dragging her favorite food on a string leading to our hideout?"

"We should shove her into a bag."

"How about we use a barrel?"

"Or tell her we have a kawaii injured kitten that needs her help! "

"Everyone listen up we're going to split up, you can pair up or even go in groups and whoever captures Kagome-chan _first_ has a better chance of her accepting the person who is professing their love to her!" Tomoki ran off in the direction he saw his beloved Kagome go.

_Ding. Ding._

"Welcome to the Yamanaka flower shop. We're about to close soon so if you could- oh Kagome-chan? What are you doing?" Ino asked looking up from the counter. She was working a bit because she needed the extra cash. The D class missions she was doing wasn't paying her enough money to get the newest most expensive perfume that had come out.

"Mou, those boys have been following me around all day!" After creating clones of herself she had ducked into the closest store. It just so happened to be a flower shop.

"Who?" Ino asked poking her head out the shop door to see Tomoki and his friends carrying something and running away. It was too dark out to see exactly what it was. She shrugged her shoulders and turned back to the girl who looking at the flowers. "Well they're gone now."

"Arigato," Kagome looked up from smelling a daisy. "This is a nice shop."

"Daisies stand for innocence. Yeah this is the family business." Ino said offhandedly going back to reading her magazine of latest kunoichi fashion.

"I'll make sure I come here if I ever need to buy flowers Ja ne Ino-chan."

"Ja ne Kagome-chan…" Ino sighed as the girl left. Maybe she had been wrong about her this whole time after leaving the academy Ino had time to herself to mature. Sasuke-kun was still going to be hers though. The new perfume she was going to buy was going to seal the deal for sure. It promised to attract any male that smelt it and make them fall in love with you.

"I got Kagome-chan in my bag!" The boy held up his squirming burlap bag.

"Iie! I caught her in my barrel. I poured candy into the bottom of it and saw her climb in!"

"I have her!" Another boy showed his moving cardboard box.

"Iie! I do!" This boy placed his wiggling rope cocoon on the ground.

"Guys! Hey guys listen to me! I am president of this club! Now, that I have your attention. We can't all have her but one of us must have her, no one let her out of their sight for a second. So I say that we each empty whatever we used to catch her," Tomoki dictated holding the bed sheet that was moving around a lot. "Unveil!"

All the boys emptied out each of their capturing implements a bunch of Kagome's tumbled out before disappearing with a pop. Leaving the boys to stare at an empty floor, how-? They all cried waterfalls and slumped to the floor holding tightly to each other. What had they done wrong? How could they not have captured the real Kagome? They all sobbed and screamed dramatically into the night.

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What are your views on author-reviewer interaction? Long author notes at the beginning or end, A/N (author note) during the story, responding to reviewers at the end of each chapter, preview to the next chapter, anything to do with being more connected to you. Do you have any requests from me as an author personally- pertaining to aforementioned things? (Do you want to see me do one or some of these things, if so what?)

Preview: The next chapter is one of my favourites, Ebisu's Genin are challenged by another team! Ebisu had been talking to him about his team's improvement and the other sensei bet his team had improved more than Ebisu's. So they proposed a match to see whose team was better.

Best Reviews for the last chapter: WraithReaper, Blackmoon OniOokami and xXKillorbeKilledXx


	20. Team Ebisu vs Team Gai

Pages: 13

Words: 6, 746

Chapter Twenty: Team Ebisu vs Team Gai

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"My lovelies it is time to make your lovely Gai-sensei proud! This is your time to shine like the youthful stars you are. That we are blessed to be able to see floating above us in the stunning night sky!" A giant thumbs up was given to Tenten, Lee and Neji. Gai had been talking to Ebisu about his team's improvement and Ebisu had been talking to Gai about his team's improvement. One thing led to another and Gai bet his team had improved more than Ebisu's. So he proposed a match to see whose team was better.

"Gai-sensei are you blind? It's still morning there are no stars shining right now, unless you're talking about the sun but that is one star not the plural version." TenTen sighed rolling her eyes.

"Hai that is accurate, but the time of the night is much more mysterious and romantic." Gai replied with a grin along with one thick furry eyebrow raised.

"This is the first time you will be sparing with another genin team. Gai-san and I will stop any of you, if we think that you endangering the other person's life. This is a supervised fight you're not trying to kill anybody here. You are also not allowed to leave this area while you battle." Ebisu informed all of the Genin while he was sitting on a log.

"Everybody take you seat as your manly sensei draws out the first name," Gai held three crunched up balls of lined paper and energetically shook them around in his hands. Looking away he opened his hand and picked one of the balls out. He smoothed out the wrinkles and turned it around. "Tenten-chan!" The sheet was decorated with poorly drawn weapons and hearts.

Ebisu also had three smaller balls of paper. He shook them around in his hands then picked one of them out and flipped the sheet around to show everyone the name. "Miroku-kun."

"Aw man why did I have to get _him_, come on sensei this isn't fair! Everyone else is going to have fun with their battles, but I'm not. This won't last more than four minutes!" Tenten complained immediately once she saw Miroku's name on the paper.

"I take great offense to that." Miroku said while making his way to the middle of the wide clearing. There was no use arguing since the names drawn had been at random. He stretched himself out. He had followed Kagome's example and taken off his weights, Sango was the only one who still had them on. A sigh escaped his lips and he closed his eyes to mediate since it looked like Gai was going to burst out with a long speech.

Gai went down on one knee, rested his hands on Tenten's shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes. "Tenten-chan, you must fight your hardest against any enemy. Show the burning flame of passion for fighting that I know you have inside of you! In the real shinobi world you can't always choose your battles. There are times when you're not going to want to fight but you have to. There will be times were you want to fight and can't. Sometimes you have to sit on the sidelines and watch people because it's not your battle. I am teaching you this lesson with the help of Ebisu-san and his team. No matter what the outcome is, the way I see you will never change you will always have a place inside my beating heart like everyone else on your team. You guys have made me proud to be a sensei without each and everyone one of your striking young souls. I can't tell you guys how much I love you! LOVE, DO YOU HEAR ME! THE ORGAN INSIDE OF ME PUMPS BLOOD TO THE REST OF MY BODY SO THAT I CAN SPEND TIME WITH MY TEAM. SO THEY WILL GROWING UP KNOWING THAT I LOVE THEM SO MUCH-"

"Oh Kami! Gai-sensei urusai [Shut up] just urusai! I'll fight him just so that you'll stop talking." Tenten said crossly stomping over to where Miroku stood patiently waiting with his eyes still closed. 'This is going to be one of the most pathetic battles. Miroku doesn't stand a chance against me.' Quickly she stretched her muscles, cracked her neck followed by her knuckles and then her knees.

'Tenten is too overly confident. She believes the battle is already over before it has started.' Gai thought running his fingers through his silky tresses, he heard about Miroku. A boy, who lacked motivation in class, never handed in his homework and was easily distracted by girls. Yet Miroku passed all of the tests and quizzes with almost perfects. That and he was said to have a mysterious, but very powerful one of a kind kekkei genkai. 'I wonder what it is. It must have something to do with his right arm.'

"Tenten-san I want you to know that believe in you!" Lee cheered pumping up his bandaged fists in the air excitedly. He couldn't wait his turn to battle. He would enjoy whomever he was destined to be up against.

"If you don't win I get to shave off your eyebrows when you sleep." Kagome yelled knowing how much time Miroku spent caring for his eyebrows. In his exact words 'they frame your eyes, which are the windows of your soul.' He read it in a woman's magazine that men who had good hygiene were more attractive to females.

"Don't you dare shave off my perfectly groomed eyebrows!" Miroku replied to the threat. He plucked and trimmed them to perfection. "It's okay. Don't worry. I won't let her harm you." He whispered while petting his eyebrows.

"Fine, Kagome and I will wax them off." Sango grinned she was happy to see Miroku getting all worked up usually he was very composed.

'This is a waste of my time.' Neji thought crossing his arms over his chest. Snow white eyes quickly glanced over in Sango's direction. There was a chance that he'd have to fight her, if that is what fate had already decided. He would have no say in who he would win against. After all it had already been decided.

"Let's get this over with already so I can sit back down!"

"Patience my dear Tenten-chan. You must learn this wondrous virtue." Gai said holding his chiseled chin in his hand shaking his head at the only girl on his genin team.

Ebisu blew into a whistle that he had been searching for in his pockets. 'That's right I should really look for that Jounin vest it would really come in handy to put things in. I'll look for one tonight.' "Tenten-chan and Miroku-kun are you two ready? 3, 2, 1, FIGHT!" He blew into the whistle again.

Miroku watched as Tenten jumped backwards and released eight kunai in his direction. He took two small steps back and they landed in a neat arc in front of him. Removing a kunai from his holster he held it in a defensive grasp ready to deflect any oncoming weapons. For now he would observe her and keep his attacks until the very end when she would be tired and more vulnerable to an injury. When she jumped into the air, he spun around and deflected the three shuriken she had thrown. His reiki senses were sharp and up to a certain distance he could sense when things were coming his way. Before she could land he spotted an opening and threw two ofudas, feeling triumphant when they landed on her arms.

"Like pieces of paper are really going to hurt me, seriously Miroku you should just give up. Otherwise you're just going to end up getting hurt." She said as she somersaulted in the air prior to landing.

"Your arms feel heavier than they normally do." Miroku said knowing that she would now have to work twice as hard to move them. 'Those were twenty five pound weights. I knew making those would come in handy sometime. Now that I think about it I should make more of those. They were quite useful. '

"What did you do to me?" Tenten asked when she tried to lift her arms that were at her side. They _were _heavy. "Well whatever you did it isn't going to stop me from defeating you."

She threw four kunai and grimaced when they landed a few feet from her. Running forward she picked them up and rolled to the side and threw them again from her position on the ground. She had to use up more energy to aim efficiently as she normally did. 'What did he do?' On her arms she could see that there was a twenty outlined with a thick rim of black. 'I'll just have to end it quickly then.' Looking at where Miroku stood in a defensive position his eyes slightly narrowed as he watched as she calculated the distance between her and him. Then she ran in a circle around him when she had almost reached her starting position she pulled out a scroll from her pocket and jumped high into the air.

'This could be bad. I might have to use it.' Miroku thought as he watched the scroll Tenten had unraveled wrapped around her body in a fast rotating coil. He unraveled the beads on his right hand and held it closed. 'She's a weapon specialist- so I'm assuming what is going to come out of there are a bunch of weapons.'

"It's too late for you to give up now," Tenten said as she spun the scroll around her body grabbing weapons and throwing them. "I've perfected this technique you can't escape."

"KAZAANA!" He revealed the palm of his hand and sucked in all the weapons then wrapped the beads around his hand again and waited. His was breathing a little labored. 'It's been a long time since I've used it.' He flipped out of the way of the two kunai that were expertly thrown after he had wrapped the beads back around his clothed hand to seal up the void.

Gai, Lee and Neji were all amazed to some degree. Gai's and Lee a lot, Neji's interest had peaked considerably. Both Gai and Lee's mouth had dropped wide open and they looked completely shocked, both of them were scared so they held each other in a tight masculine embrace "Gai-sensei…Miroku-san's hand- it has a giant black hole in it and it's sucking up all of Tenten's weapons!"

"Lee-kun don't worry I'll make sure your youthful body not sucked into it if you do the same for mine! As long as Miroku-kun doesn't point the kazanna over here we should be fine."

'Byakugan!' Neji's eyes were now completely focused on Miroku's hand. Where the hole started it also ended, the wind tunnel didn't extend further into his arm. That meant whatever was sucked up into it was gone, forever. He had never heard of this Kekkei genkai, but it was definitely dangerous and powerful. 'He may be a formidable foe worth fighting.'

"Nani?" Tenten landed on the ground her hands dug into the earth. They were straining themselves towards the end of the scroll. Pushing herself off the ground she ran towards Miroku and back flipped. Her aim was to kick him in the face. Only it was blocked with his left arm and when she was balancing herself on her arms about to flip back over, he bought up his leg and kneed her in the abdomen. Then he ran behind her and kicked her body forwards so he could put some distance between the two of them after his last attack.

"Is that everything you've got Tenten? I was expecting better." He taunted, if she got angrier she was going to do something more reckless that would tire her arm muscles out even more. Eventually she wouldn't even have the strength to move them anymore and that's when he'd be able to attack freely, without her retaliating. Then he'd come out the champion of this match and his magnificent brows would be safe.

"Tch. Fine I'll show you," She held out two scrolls, briefly glancing to the side to see Gai and Lee looking at her with astonishment Neji turned his gaze to her, she gave a nod of confirmation to her team. She kneeled down and stood up one of the scrolls at an arm's length distance away. "This will be a good trial run. Since this technique still has a couple of kinks that need to be worked out, but it should be fine to use against you though it will make you shut that obnoxious mouth of yours." The other scroll was now standing up too.

At this point he was starting to regret taunting her now, he gulped. There was no going back now. She had already formed Tora, Mi, Saru, U and Mi [Tiger, Snake, Monkey, Hare, and Snake] hand signs before crossing her arms in front of her now sporting a sinister smile on her face. Grabbing onto the beads Miroku got ready to pull them off. This jutsu looked like it was going to be impressive. The two scrolls were very thick, but they were very much like the one scroll she had used before.

"Soshoryu [Rising Twin Dragons]!" Smoke filled the area and twin dragons were born from the smoke. Both of them propelled upwards slightly higher than the tree tops and continuously entwined their bodies together before turning back into two spiraling scrolls. Tenten shot up into the air to the very top, like before, weapons popped out from the scroll and she threw them all gritting her teeth together as she missed grabbing the handles of some of the weapons. That was something that she still needed to work on. Her arms were refusing to work because of those weights Miroku had put on her wasn't helping the jutsu either. Also the wire she had summoned was weak and had snapped on some of the weapons already, 'I also need to find stronger wire, come on I can do this. I know I can…. just a little more-'

"Kazaana!" Miroku opened up the endless tunnel in his hand again then the small glint of strings attached to Tenten's fingers caught his eye. 'Crap, if I suck in these weapons she'll get pulled in also.' He wrapped his hand back up and ran around the edge of the clearing dodging the weapons that were flying his way. Using two kunai he deflected the ones he could then crossed his arms in front of his face and body getting many deep slices in his arms and legs before he managed to jump up and out of the barricade of weapons. He stepped onto the handle one weapon to the next and sliced through most of the wire. The sounds of strings 'twanging' as they snapped could be heard and a plethora of weapons embedding themselves into anything they could.

"I'm calling that the end of this match." Gai caught Tenten in his arms before she could hit the ground, she didn't even look like she was going to fall safely after that. Soshoryu was an attack that she had been working on for at least four months and she wanted it ready to be able to use it in the upcoming Chuunin exam.

"I thought I was a goner." Miroku fell back onto the log breathing out a sigh of relief wrapping the prayer beads around his arm. He would have used genjutsus but it didn't get to a point in the battle were he needed to. If he didn't have to waste his chakra just so his fight could be more flamboyant- he wouldn't. As long as the job was done, that was all that mattered to him.

"Good job Miroku!" Ebisu said patting him on his shoulder as he was getting up to remove all of Tenten's weapons in the clearing to get it prepared for the next match.

"There I've taken the weights from your arms, they should feel better now." Miroku smiled as he crumpled up the paper after he peeled them off.

"Arigato," Tenten mumbled turning her head away from him, how could she have lost? She peaked at him from underneath her lashes and looked at the many wounds he had received from her weapons as he walked away. "I guess I owe you an apology, you're not as much of a baka as I thought you were Miroku, you were able to defeat me after all."

"Are you trying to compliment me Tenten dearest? Where you so overwhelmed and impressed with my ability to fight that you've finally accepted my unconditional love for you?" He asked looking very cat like when he grinned rushing back over to her hand making a grab for her hands.

"Ii-Iie! Now get away from me! Don't touch me!" Tenten yelled kicking him, she hid her face in her hands and groaned when he tripped over the log that everyone was sitting on. His body crumpled on the left side of his face as he struggling to get up, twisting into many painful looking positions. He was crying waterfalls and whining for someone to help him because he was stuck. Finally Kagome decided to lend him a hand and pulled him back onto the log. Tenten groaned, like she had asked herself before, how could she have lost _to him _of all people?

"Next person that will be combating their little heart out is the attractive green beast of Konoha, no I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about the breathtaking LEE-KUN!" Billions of green hearts and sunsets decorate this page.

"Yosh! You can count on me! I will do my best Gai-sensei!" Lee stood up straight and saluted before marching over to the center of the clearing swinging his arms like a robot and picking up his knees so that they almost hit him in his chest.

"Looks like you're up Sango." Ebisu turned the sheet of paper around that had her name of it. 'That means-'

"Tch." Neji grunted he'd have to fight that weak twerp? 'What a waste of time and chakra.'

"Sango-san! It is my honor to be paired up with you for this honorable fight. I will not go easy on you and I expect you to do the same for me!"

"Wakatta [Got it] Lee-kun." Sango tightened her grip on Hiraikotsu's strap. 'I heard that he can only use taijutsu but it's his specialty, as it is mine.'

"3, 2, 1, FIGHT!" The shrill sound of whistle entered everyone's ears as the whistle was blown.

"_Konoha Reppu_[Leaf Gale]" Lee said quickly appearing beside Sango; he dropped to his feet and swung his leg around.

"Hiraikotsu!" The boomerang was sent hurling towards Lee as Sango had jumped up high into the air. Reaching into her pouch with a gloved hand she pulled out two smoke bombs and threw it along with the bag that was full of makibishi [throwing nails] before Hiraikotsu returned to her awaiting open hand.

"Sango-san you and I are both geniuses of hard work, we both have to work constantly train just to keep up with the genius types. You and I may be on the same level, but I have to let you know that I have the upper hand." Lee said waiting for the smoke to clear his eyes darting around as he stood with one hand out in front of his body while his other was in a loose fist behind his body. When Hiraikotsu rapidly spun towards him, he blocked it with his arms grunting as it tore up his bandages and pushed him backwards.

As soon as Lee had pushed back Hiraikotsu he quickly dodged Sango's kick. It was a blur of flying limbs there was a lot of blocking and attacking but none of the blows landed until Lee got into a crouching position and brought his palm facing up and knocked her into the air. She easily flipped over in the air and landed on her feet. Lee rushed towards her and jumped into the air and spun around with his leg out so that he could kick her. Only she swung forward into a handstand position her left leg curled down and trapped his leg in both of hers. Turning herself upright again sending his body flying forward.

'Makibishi!' Lee's eyes widened when he saw them, he couldn't safely put his hands down unless he wanted them punctured by the jagged ends. Using his arms to cover he face his body slid over a couple tearing into his arms and chest area. He jumped up and sobbed when he saw his stunning green suit had been torn, it was ruined! Fire burned in his eyes and he opened his mouth in a silent scream when they landed on Sango.

'The hitai-ite around his waist keeps him balanced…maybe I should try and remove it.' Grabbing another couple of smoke bombs she hastily tossed them in his direction laughing when one of them landed directly in his mouth.

"Ew, that has to be the foulest flavor that my wonderful taste buds have ever had to experience! Plehh! Neji-san's cooking tastes better than this, and that's saying something!" Lee scraped the remains mouth clenching his fist by his frowning face. "I will get you for that cheap attack Sango-san!" He got back down in a fighting stance and gave a warrior like cry.

Her laughter had stopped and she quickly ran towards Hiraikotsu and used it to block the attacks. Then she swung the large boomerang in a circle behind her body to hit Lee who had appeared there, only to be on the receiving end of a dynamic flying kick into her stomach. Lee's kick was so strong that she let go of her weapon to clutch her stomach. The only thing that stopped her was when her back collided with a tree.

'Alright now is my chance!' Lee ran towards her and jumped up into the air kicking out his leg. When it connected with her shoulder it would surely break. His eyes widened when a long metal chain wrapped around his leg and made him leave a Lee shaped indent in the trunk of a tree. She threw the end of the chain after swinging it around. Hopefully it would hold down his limbs and make him immobile. Using this time, seeing that she may not get another chance, she flipped over using one hand and replaced Hiraikotsu onto her back.

He slid down from the tree and used his hands to quickly undo the chain that had wound itself around his orange legwarmer. Spinning around on one hand he kicked his legs out, only to have the attacks blocked by Sango's arms. He gasped when her hands wrapped around both his ankles and spun him around rapidly in the air like she would Hiraikotsu. No matter how much Lee struggled he couldn't escape, so he braced himself for the inevitable impact, instead he found himself air born. Then Sango sprung up beside him and brought Hiraikotsu down into his stomach sending him flying back towards the ground where he created a rather large crater he lay there waiting for Sango to lean over to check on him. When she did he kicked out her legs from under her.

"Oomph." She rolled to the side when he tried to dig his heel into her shoulder and thrust her palms into his back as she used the momentum to get up. She sent Lee stumbling forwards. Then unexpectedly he turned around and punched her across the face. Then he leapt back so she couldn't retaliate. Sango's head whipped around and she used her sleeve to wipe the blood that had come out from her mouth. With two shuriken in each of her hands she threw them at Lee watching as a thin line of blood appeared on both sides of his cheeks. He quickly ran towards her his hair blowing back from how fast he was moving towards her.

One of the punches he threw was blocked, another one she ducked but the other three punches and the kick he landed. She spun a couple times in the air then landed roughly on her back. Using one of the hidden knives in the right arm of her suit she sliced off one of the orange warmers revealing the weights hidden underneath them. Kicking out her legs she spun around and knocked him off his feet before jumping back to take a moment so she could catch her breath. His leg had come awfully close to crushing her windpipes. They circled around each other waiting to see what the other person would do.

"Sango-san you have made this has been an interesting battle and I am glad to have been chosen to be your opponent. Your skills in taijutsu are almost a match for mine. Hard work will always surpass geniuses. I think you'll agree with me when I say, It's time to end this battle."

"Un." She had no time to get out of the way as Lee darted towards her swinging around Hiraikotsu she braced herself for the impact.

"_Konoha Senpuu _[Konoha Hurricane]!" Lee kicked the bothersome weapon away then flipped backwards and ran at her again. Sango evaded the attack by doing two backhand springs in a row. Crouching down she dodged Lee's leg that was headed for her face then swept his supporting leg out from under him and stood up and smashed his body against the ground before starting to spin him around. The sensation of his heel repeatedly slamming into her right hand made her yelp in pain but she only released him once she determined that she was rotating around the fastest that she could.

'I probably shouldn't have done that. I feel like throwing up now.' Sango thought to herself stumbling slightly to the left hand side holding her mouth with both her hands to keep her from hurling. Queasily she watched as Lee tucked himself into a tight ball and rolled on the ground then he popped out and slid backwards in a crouching position with two large handfuls of dirt that he had torn from the ground to slow him down. He recovered quickly and raced towards her while her eyes were still spinning around.

"Konoha Senpuu!" His foot connected with the underside of her chin and sent her soaring up in the air. "Kage Buyo [Shadow of the Dancing Leaf]!" His tattered bandages began to unravel only to be pinned to the ground with a kunai.

"You're not allowed to use that technique!" Gai yelled grabbing Lee by the neck, in the crook of his elbow, right out of the air. He then threw him onto the ground, Lee looked scared he crawled backwards then bowed his head to the ground trembling. "A shinobi never reveals his jutsu unless it's absolutely necessary, especially this one!"

"Go-Gomen Gai-sensei! I am so sorry! It was in the heat of in the moment." Lee continued to bow his forehead brushing against the ground each time he did.

"This time I will not punish you, but the next time I'm going to have to strike you across your good-looking face. Promise me Lee-kun that you won't use _that _unless it is absolutely necessary. I want you to promise your charming sensei."

"I-I-I promise you Gai-sensei! Gomen!" Lee cried resting his head against the ground until he was pulled up into the loving embrace of Gai.

"Now you know better! Everything is going to be alright Lee-kun! I am still swollen with pride since you've become stronger than you once were!" Gai also sobbed holding the boy closer.

'Did I lose? I'm guessing he would have won if he was able to execute that jutsu. Well…I lost to him….I need to train harder.' Sango thought after she had turned her body upright so she could land properly. Then went around and carefully picked up her shuriken and makibishi.

"You're up….Kagome-chan." Ebisu didn't know what to think, the sharingan against the byakugan. Neji was a horrible opponent to be up against. 'I might have to stop this battle…'

"Un!" She jumped up excitedly, everyone else had, had their turn. It had got her blood pumping.

"Kagome you have to be careful. Neji-san has the byakugan. It allows him see three hundred and sixty degrees around him and he can even see inside your body," Miroku warned hoping that Kagome would take him seriously. "He can use Konoha's strongest hand-to-hand combat style."

"The attacks he'll land on your body will cause you internal damage," Tenten looked towards Kagome. "Even if he misses, but gets close enough to your body, it will cause damage. If you get hit no matter how strong you are, it will be fatal."

"Neji-san doesn't fool around when he fights, he takes everything seriously." Lee added as he rewound his bandages around his hand.

"Wait… When you say he can see inside of my body," Kagome narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, protectively. "…does that mean my clothing is gone? Is this some sort of super ecchi da [pervert] kekkei genkai?"

"Haven't you been listening to anything else they've said?" Sango irritably asked, as everyone looked at Kagome in disbelief, now that they thought about it though….that was a good question. Sango couldn't believe her friend had such a short attention span, at times. 'Probably from Obaa-chan hitting her on the head all the time, must have loosen up more than a couple of screws.'

"Tch, what they're all trying to tell you, is the outcome of the battle. If you're smart you won't make a fool of yourself." Neji had his eyes closed as he stood in the middle of the clearing. A small breeze blew through his hair that was tied back. "On the outside we may all look different but on the inside we are all the same."

"Your hair is longer than mine," Kagome said walking to the spot opposite to him. Her arms were still crossed protectively over her upper body. "My hair would have been the same length if a youkai hadn't chewed a bunch of it off when I was forced to survive in the wilderness."

"Focus on the matter at hand!" Ebisu roared his spit flying everywhere and his nostrils flared.

"Mou..."

"3, 2, 1, FIGHT!"

"By a twist of fate it seems that _you_are my opponent." Neji got down into the jyuken [Gentle Fist] position. His un-bandaged hand in front of his body palm facing outwards and his bandaged hand was by his side waiting to spring up at any given moment. He ran forwards and brought his other hand out to strike Kagome's arm. The blow landed but was blocked by energy from her hand…. that was almost same in color, but was it chakra? Whatever it was he could see it, even without his clan's kekkei genkai. He jumped back to observe her **'**Byakugan!' Veins bulged outwards near his eyes. He darted towards her and attacked again.

As he ran towards her with his other hand ready to pop up she spun around on her foot and grabbed the arm with her right hand and used her left one to guide his body over her head. He twisted around and landed on his feet using his other arm, since she was still holding on to his right one. With a straight hand he jabbed his four fingers into her heart area. Causing her to let go of him and tumble backwards. Blood flew out of her mouth.

"That's the feeling when one of your tenketsu points gets closed. The body has three hundred and sixty one points. I can see every single one of them," Neji turned away from the disgraceful sight of the girl struggling to get off of the ground; veins receded back into his face. He had predetermined the end of the battle. "You have no way of beating me. It's over."

"_Suiton Suijinheki__ no jutsu_[Water Bullet]!" Kagome was on her knees as she drew in the moisture. She had never preformed this technique before she guessed it was sort of like the fireball technique where you had to gather the chakra before spitting it out. Originally she was going to use the _goukakyuu no jutsu _but fire traveled too quickly and would burn down the training area. No thought was given to Neji's wellbeing. It didn't sit well in her throat though so hastily she spat it out and bent over frantically coughing out a puddle of water from the jutsu she was unable to execute. The rest of the water had found its way into her lungs.

"Is that supposed to be some sort of joke?" He questioned after revolving around, bringing his arm down that he was going to use to slice though the water bullets, appalled at the small jet of water that came out of her mouth. That elemental jutsu was much too advanced for someone like her to learn anyways. 'How is she still molding her chakra? That one hit alone should have incapacitated her. Perhaps she moved at the last moment…next time she won't be so lucky.'

"I've never tried to do it before; mou cut me some slack!" She held her sore throat with both her hands. Internally groaning she blocked and dodged the fast moved hands that threatened to close up her tenketsu points. In the same manner that he was trying to strike her she stuck him in his side. He grunted and jumped backwards, she could see that the reiki had affected him as he leaned his weight more on the opposite side and the way half of his face cringed.

"What is this energy?" Neji gritted his teeth together small shocks coursed through his body originating at the point she managed to hit him at. It was a careless mistake on his part for leaving the small opening in his defense.

"Reiki," Her eyes locked onto him while going through a different set of hand signs. She knew her attack would wear off soon, unlike Neji's were she could actually feel the damage inside of her body. "_Doton Doryuuheki no jutsu_[Earth Rising Barrier]!" Instead of using it as a barrier she successfully spat out orbs of mud in Neji's direction.

Hands where flying as Neji whacked away all the balls of mud, his nose crinkled as it splattered back into his clothing in his hair. His body was still not back to normal as he spun around and kicked a ball of mud back in her direction. The ball of mud had collided into her face, making her head whip backwards from the impact. She brought her head upright again and opened her mouth, dropping out a gigantic chunk of soggy soil. Her head bowed forward as her salvia tainted with dirt ran out from her mouth.

"Peoples limitations are set and unchangeable. Only a fool wastes their time trying to defeat someone that they can't," He got out of his fighting stance and slowly walked over to her hunched form. "My eyes allow me to see _everything_."

"I don't see what's so special about your eyes. Maybe I should show you mine instead?" Kagome lifted up her head, wiping off the mud on her face in one sweep. During the last week she had been fighting against her shadow clones using the 'sharingan' she knew the basics of how it worked, it allowed her to see through attacks and counter them.

Neji took an involuntary step back, 'it can't be- she has the sharingan? How-? Hiashi-sama had said the Hyuuga clan was now the noblest clan that still existed in Konoha because there was only one Uchiha survivor left. Was this the person? Those eyes…are paralyzing my body.' He closed his eyes and straightened out his body. The girl was in range, in a moment he would slide down to prepare himself to use the most advanced form of the byakugan on her. This would be something he could rub in his smug clan leader's face. A _branch member_had brought down the last remaining Uchiha by closing up their tenketsu points. Even better, he would have used an attack that very few main branch members can do. "Why aren't you wearing the clothes that show the emblem of your noble clan?"

"Nani? [What?]"

"The red and white uchiwa fan."

'Isn't that the symbol Sasuke has on the back of his shirt?' She asked herself swaying at as she stood up. "Iie, I don't belong to the Uchiha clan."

"Do you take me for an idiot?" Neji sneered he could clearly see the clan's kekkei genkai in her eyes. "_Hakke Rokujuuyonshou_[Divination Field Sixty Four Strikes]! Two strikes! Four strikes! Eight strikes! Sixte-"

Ebisu jumped in and knocked the Hyuuga boy away once he recognized what Neji was trying to accomplish. "I know what you trying to do. Save it for the chuunin exams this is meant to be a friendly match only. I'm going to call this-"

"This…fight isn't over Ebisu-sensei don't worry about me." She panted leaning her back against a tree. Those attacks had really done damage to her body but she could still move and that meant she could continue to fight. How else was she going to get stronger if she didn't get beat up in the process? The next time he tried something she would be ready.

"Fine but if he tries to use that attack again. I'm calling off the match." Ebisu was worried for her as he walked back to the log. With enough of her tenketsu points closed she might never be able to use her chakra again or even worse she could die.

Sharingan eyes watched Neji as he got back into his jyuken stance. Her reiki sparked with electricity she looked down to her hands that felt mildly uncomfortable. That's right she had never used her reiki the same time she used her chakra- she had never had reason to, until now that is. As Neji ran to her ready to whack her body with his palm she ducked and copied his 'two strikes' motion while using the reiki chakra mixture that was both blue and black at the same time. Seeing that it was effective and his body was stunned she went onto 'four strike followed by the eight strikes.' Of course the placement wasn't perfect but she managed to land the attack in the general area, at least. Bringing around her leg she kicked him in him across the face, sending body flying into the air. She then pushed off the ground swung around and kneed him in the side before roughly falling to the ground with her hands shaking uncontrollably.

'My own attack- she was able to copy it and she used it against me…' Neji thought as his body roughly bounced and tumbled on the ground, bringing up a cloud of dust. He breathed deeply, watching her as he lay on his stomach; he couldn't move his body after that. She wasn't in any better condition than he was. Her blue eyes stared into his snow white ones.

"End of the match, neither of them can continue the fight." Ebisu said blowing the whistle after three minutes of observing the two have a heated staring match.

"Ebisu-san I consider that was a great battle to finish this very flourishing day! Now it's time for everyone to return to their dwelling and recuperate from this phenomenal time we have been blessed to spend together." Gai said as he tossed Neji over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He then flashed his good guy pose before running off into the sunset.

"Good job with your battles, you guys have made me so proud to be your sensei!" Ebisu cried happily giving the three of them a group hug.

"Ebisu-sensei that's nice but your tears are stinging my wounds." Miroku complained struggling to get out of the embrace

"My body hurts, let go of me." Sango growled squirming against Ebisu's sudden embrace.

"Itai…" Kagome groaned as her abused body was crushed.

* * *

I'm borrowing this idea I got from another author (Jamberine) in which you can ask one question to the character of my choosing and they'll reply to you via PM for this chapter only. They'll answer it to the best of their abilites but you might not get the response you want if you ask a question that will end up giving the story away.

For this chapter you can ask Sasuke any one question you want! Make sure you address him though.

Oh and if you want to please check out my new story Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance it's a Harry Potter timetravel fanfiction.

Preview: Team Ebisu has been given a new mission only it results in one of the team being up kidnapped!

Best Reviewers for the last chapter: Anonymoose13 and Gloriana the Younger


	21. Sango, Abunai!

Pages: 12

Words: 6,027

Chapter Twenty-One: Sango, Abunai!

"Since your other mission was successful, I will be giving you another C class mission. You are to investigate the disappearances of people from a nearby village. It is believed that one individual alone is responsible for these kidnappings. This man," Sarutobi gestured to the pale tired looking man to come over. "He came from the village that you will be going to. He can give you the in depth details on your way there. Time is of the utmost importance."

"Konichiwa….My name's Ono, Hiro." The man said squishing his hat up in his hands his eyes darting nervously to each of the kid's faces.

"I am their jounin sensei Ebisu. This is my Genin squad, Miroku-kun, Sango-chan and Kagome-chan. You three go get packed and meet at the gates in forty five minutes. I'll come back here to get you before that Hiro-san." Ebisu promised proudly puffing out his chest now that he had started to wear a jounin vest.

"Domo arigato [Thank you very much] for your hospitality." Hiro bowed, he just hoped these people could help him.

"Ebisu-san," Sarutobi called out when the jounin was about to leave. "I know it's been almost two weeks since we last talked but my findings are still inconclusive about those uncharacteristic dots in Kagome-chan's eyes. When I have some spare time I will continue with my research and Kakashi-san hasn't returned from his mission as of yet."

"Hai, I understand Hokage-sama arigato."

* * *

"Hiro-san, you said that people have been going missing from your village. When did it all start happening?" Sango asked looking up to the man who looked very uncomfortable to be sitting on top of Kirara's back. But the man refused to have Ebisu carry him. If they were to make it there in three days they'd have to cover a lot of ground in one day. His walking pace just didn't make the cut. At his rate they'd get there in a week.

"Hai…It started with a few pets disappearing, everyone just brushed it off assuming that they were getting eaten by other animals in the forest. Then some elderly people began to go missing too. The people just thought they had gotten lost we sent out search parties but we never were able to find them. Then my sick daughter….This cloaked figure appeared at our doorstep and she gave us all this money and said that she could help my daughter. I was foolish and I accepted her offer and handed my daughter over to her. After three days my wife said she couldn't stand it anymore …. So she went after her. When she didn't return the next morning- I just knew… that this person had taken her also so I got to your village as quickly as possible. It's been about a week and a half since my wife has gone missing," Tears fell on to his hands. "I'm almost certain they're both dead! I don't even know what happened to them!"

"That's what we're here to find out Hiro-san. Whatever has happened to them, you're preventing more people from getting hurt by this person." Miroku said with wisdom that was supposedly beyond his years.

"Alright guys it's time to set up camp, otherwise it will get to dark out then we won't be able to see what we're doing. Hiro-san you will have to share a tent with Miroku-kun and I. Sango-chan and Kagome-chan you'll have to share a tent also. I will take the third night watch."

"First watch." Kagome claimed as she pulled out the green tent from her backpack. She tossed it on the ground in the area everyone had agreed upon. Sango started to show her how to set a tent up. A tent would have handy to have when she had to survive in the wilderness…

"I'll take the last watch for even I need my beauty sleep." Miroku pulled out his sleeping bag while he waited for Ebisu to pitch the tent. Miroku wasn't allowed to touch the tent while it was being set up. Somehow he always ended up messing it up so he was banned from going near a tent until it was secure.

"Second." Sango rolled her eyes at Miroku's reasoning. Her tent was now set up and she placed her backpack inside. Lucky for Miroku she wasn't the one who would have to wake him up. If she did she would 'accidentally' kick him in the face a couple times. When the hair suddenly stood up on the back of her neck, she automatically grabbed Hiraikotsu.

Kagome felt three sharp pricks so she crawled out of her tent and warned everyone, "There are three youkai. They're approaching this way- fast but these don't feel to be too powerful so it should be okay. " She had learned when the feeling was sharper the stronger the youkai approaching would be.

"I'll take care of them then, be back in a second," Sango said running off. True to her word she came back almost as quickly as she had left wiping Hiraikotsu off in some nearby bushes to remove the guts and blood. "They were floating long wimpy worm type youkai, there was one with an imp head, another was just an eyeball and the last one looked had giant fly eyes and the last one was werid- it just had mustache."

"The mustache one sounded creepy." Kagome commented imagining what it had looked like.

"You-youkai?" Hiro asked in strained, panicked tone. There was never a case of one attacking in the area he lived in.

"Hai, no need to worry Hiro-san these are some of the strongest genin there are in our village. If they can't defeat them, there is always me! You are safe from this kidnapper." Ebisu proudly said rolling out the spare sleeping bag he had brought along for Hiro.

"What if this kidnapper- is some type of youkai, then my daughter and wife they-they really would be dead by now. It took me too long to get to the village! What if they're still alive right now? You have to save them! I'm begging you! Let's continue traveling after all you're a bunch of strong shinobi… onegai….I'm nothing without them."

"Hiro-san we've already set up camp and we need to rest so we can get our energy back," Kagome stated as she took a gulp from her water canteen. "You've been riding on top of Kirara so you're probably not as tired as us, but we've actually been running all day."

"Maybe if we travel far enough tomorrow we can make it to your village by nightfall." Miroku said thoughtfully as he continued to arrange pieces of wood for a fire.

"We would have to wake up earlier than we planned to and we would get there really late but then none of us would have to keep watch, so all of us could sleep," Sango expanded on the idea dropping more firewood beside the fire pit. "Then the day after we arrive we can start our investigation."

"If everyone agrees on this…" Ebisu got a nod of confirmation from everyone. "Okay, well I'm going to see if I can find us some food." Kirara trailed after Ebisu as he went to go find something to kill so that his team could have some food in their stomachs.

"Little girl, what are you eating?" Hiro asked the one with the blue eyes who was happily munching on something. The two girls sort of reminded him of his own daughter before she became horribly ill a month ago. He and his wife tried to do everything that they could think of to save their only child- but nothing worked.

"My names Ka-go-me and these are blackberries this a bush full of them, here have some they're good." She gave a giant handful of berries to the man then picked some more.

"Toss some over this way you pig." Sango said opening her mouth getting ready to catch the flying berries, until Miroku quickly grabbed them out of the air and greedily shoved them all into his mouth.

"Yum, those berries are most scrumptious indeed." He soon found himself crumpled on the ground clutching the back of his legs in pain.

"Throw some more over!"

"How do you think Naru-kun is doing? It feels like forever since I last talked to him and Sasuke!" Kagome said as she chucked a bunch of berries over to Sango.

"I'm sure they're both fine. Sasuke will take care of Naruto if he gets into any trouble. He knows how much you care for that blonde." Sango smiled, it was cute the way Sasuke acted whenever he was around Kagome. Unfortunately for him Kagome was rather oblivious when it came to his affection and maybe Sasuke wasn't yet aware of his feelings for her either.

"But Sasuke despises Naru-kun though and vice versa."

"I think it's more of a brotherly hate between the two of them. Since both of them know the feeling of what it's like to be alone in the world," Miroku piped in taking a handful of berries from the bush. "They're more alike than they're willing to admit."

"Miroku's right those two guys constantly push each other to become a stronger shinobi than the other person." Sango tossed a fresh log into the fire to keep it burning.

"Who is ready for some rabbit?" Ebisu asked returning with a four dead bunnies. "Once you've all eaten go to bed, unless you have first watch because tomorrow we depart as soon as the sun rises."

* * *

Sango groaned as she felt the strong urge to go to the bathroom, she must have drank too much water. They had arrived in Hiro's village a couple of hours ago but because the village was so small and space was limited, they were sleeping in their tents even though almost all of the houses had been abandoned because everyone was scared of this kidnapper. She felt bad for waking up Kagome since she was especially tired from taking the first watch yesterday. "Hey- I'm going to use the bathroom okay?"

"Mmk…" Kagome nodded her head before snuggling back into her sleeping bag, immediately going back to sleep seconds later.

'That girl is perfect. She's what I've been looking for. Oh she will do. Exactly the thing I've been waiting for as a new test subject for me to play with. This is a fresh clean human palette to work with. Better yet, it's still a child.' A cloaked figure thought sinisterly to itself as it poured a strong chemical she had specially mixed into a cloth and silently crept over to her. Then using her spider like legs the handkerchief was placed over the girl's mouth. Sango elbowed the mysterious attack in the chest and struggled to turn around while kicking her legs wildly in the air, at were the person's legs should have been before slumping to the ground. 'This girl is a fighter how completely excellent. I have something special so special planned for you. All of this is just too good to be true. Lucky I felt like going for a stroll tonight. I'm going to have so much fun rebuilding your body.'

"My pretties' mama's home and I've brought all of you a new friend. Don't you worry she looks ugly now but I will make her look as beautiful as the rest of you." The woman said removing the cloak. The little hair that she had on her head was curly and grey with streaks of white. Her fingers where long and boney, while the top half of her was old and human while the bottom half of her had once belonged to a spider youkai. She carried the unconscious girl's body over to an empty surgical steel table. As she made her way to the table the woman passed her other gorgeous creations she was working on. Giving them a toothless smile, most of them still needed to be traded. Then she would have their memories adjusted to the person, who she was trading with, their requirements. She could make it so they would be willing to do whatever the person wanted. Unfortunately not many knew of her amazing talents, if they did her precious babies would definitely be high in demand.

For many years she was in the business of creating monsters. It started out with using dead bodies and sewing other dead body parts to them from animals. Then she started working closely with a man who wouldn't tell her his name. But this man would work through his 'son' a freaky looking guy named Orochimaru. He provided her with all the demon parts she could ever imagine. Since then he lost interest in what she did only sometimes requesting her services to stitch up a wound. She hated to move around a lot but now she had to in order to get a human on her operating table.

It was a real pity that many of her splendid creatures ended up dead after she worked so hard on attaching the youkai parts to them. Many jars full of body parts floating in special preserving liquid, that was her own creation it took many years to perfect, lined the back wall. It was a truly magnificent sight to behold her wondrous collection. After placing a rubber mask onto Sango's face, to keep the girl sedated, the old woman went into her basement that was filled with even more marvels and wonders. A small bed was hidden away in the corner, it was hardly ever used. She ran her fingers over many glass jars. None of them had labels but she knew exactly what was in them. After a couple moments she pulled one out containing an ogre's arm, then another two that had special eyeballs floating around in it. 'These will do nicely for now.'

"Don't worry I have something extraordinary planned for you girl. I just have to finish up with this man over here first. He'll look rather dashing with this ogre's arm. I'm almost certain I've used up the rest of the parts on one of my other pretties long ago." An old radio was clicked on and the woman placed the two jars filled with eye balls next to the girl. Then she proceeded to dance her way over to the man laying on the table while she twirled around with the jar that had the arm in it. Taking a saw she proficiently hacked off the man's human arm. That was the easy part. After dumping it down the garbage shoot, where useless human parts and dead bodies went down she had to spend the next couple of hours carefully connecting the tissue and muscles together so that it would work like a normal arm. The sun had well already risen by the time she was finished.

"Ah and I had hoped there would be time to work on you my dear, but even I need to take a break. In five hours I will come back and the first thing I will do is fix those eyes of yours and make you beautiful," Her hand ran down the length of the young girl's face. Soon the tank that was storing the gas, which was what kept all of her creations sedated, needed to be replaced. Going back to the thought prior to her noticing the almost empty tank she told the girl that the only other young girl had pathetically died even before she got to work on her. "But I was blessed with you in return wasn't I?" Her legs scurried over the tubes, chords and wires on the floor appearing next to sickly girl's mother. The woman was beginning to look better. Sharp red horns were on top of her head. While the hair had changed into a light yellow color, ears were replaced by pointy elf ones, a long horse's tail was also successful attached and she was thinking about adding two grey tentacles after cutting off the woman's arms but those would have to wait.

Five hours later, like the old woman had promised she returned standing next to the untouched human. Many more jars, floating with different part, had been placed on the table next to the girl. "Now it wasn't easy getting my hands on these precious organs, I had to trade five of my lovelies made completely from scratch but then again this was a long time ago. This is now and I think these eyes are the first step I will take to make you into a fearsome beast and once I'm done with you, I can always trade you for more body parts. Children have always been high in demand from customers. I'll make a lot of profit from your body."

As the insane woman cut into the eye area she cautiously pulled eye out and used a scalpel to remove it making sure to keep all the working bits intact. Grabbing the eyeball out of the jar and quickly rinsing it in a unique saline solution three or four times then she shook off the liquid and connected everything before popping it back into socket. It had taken two and a half hours to do. The old woman's back was breaking, her fingers had become numb as well, to top it off her neck was cramped, and now her eyes were giving her grief because had strained them too much. That was always the reason why she rarely messed around with people's eyes, it way too much work. There were still another two and a half hours to go for the other eye. She preferred cutting off body parts and sewing a different one on it was much more satisfying. Though once done she did have a fresh tasty eyeball to snack on so it wasn't an utter waste, such a delectable tasting thing.

When she was reaching for the other glass jar, with the matching eye floating about in it, the gas gauge caught her attention. The pointer was so close to being empty- swearing she scuttled down the stairs as quickly as she could to bring up another tank. It was her very last one. She lugged it up the stairs but four of her legs got tangled up in the many tubes, cords and wires on the ground. In order to keep her body from falling she grabbed onto the metal railing but dropped the tank, the sound of glass shattering made her absolutely livid. Untangling her legs she used the nearby table to help her up but tipped over the tray that had the other jars she had placed next to the girl. The glass jars shattered when they connected with the cracked dirty cement ground, fluid spilled everywhere and glorious body parts were now contaminated but that was the least of her worries. The gas tank had made a dreadful noise that signaled it was totally empty.

"." Warm puffs of air were snorted down her back of her neck and acidic drool dripped onto shoulder burning through the thin clothing and the half spider half woman's flesh. Many glowing angry eyes surrounded her. They were her completed ones that needed their memories to be adjusted. Since she gave them a lower dose of the gas, they had awakened rather quickly. The ones she was currently operating on were given more of the gas so they didn't move or feel anything when she cut into them.

"Iie! You're all not ready to be woken up yet! IIE! LISTEN TO ME, I ORDER ALL OF YOU TO GET BACK!"

* * *

"How do you know your friend is this way? Oh, this is my entire fault too if I hadn't have urged you to come here so quickly your friend would probably still be alright! Why am I such a failure in life?" Hiro would have tugged his hat down over his entire face if he wasn't holding onto the fur of the neko youkai for dear life.

"I can sense her aura coming from this direction-"

"Did anyone else just hear that scream?" Miroku asked they picked up even more speed. Ebisu had given him the duty of wake the girls up. Miroku had a sneaking suspicion that his sensei didn't want to get hurt by a sleeping Sango or Kagome….mainly Sango. There had been a time when Ebisu had gone to wake Sango up and received a black eye that had been 'out of reflex' in her defense. Ever since then Miroku had been given the job. He opened the girl's tent only to find Kagome and Kirara were occupying the space. Sango's sleeping bag was empty and she had left Hiraikotsu behind. Even if she had decided to go somewhere in the middle of the night, without telling anyone, she would have at least brought her weapon to protect herself.

"That didn't sound like Sango's voice, someone else is in trouble." Ebisu said his eyes landing on a house in the far distance.

They came to a grinding halt outside of the home. A huge metal door was torn off its hinges leaving it open for everyone to see the claw marks, blood and broken glass everywhere on the floor. "It smells so horrible." Kagome clutched her nose as her eyes watered at the foul stench of chemicals and decomposing things.

"I'm going in, you guys stay outside there is too much broken glass."

"The odor is coming from this container filled with human body parts. There are also entire bodies in here- they look like they've been sewn together with youkai parts." Miroku turned green and ran off to the nearby bushes and vomited. 'Who would think of doing such a thing?'

"Hiro-kun?" A feminine voice floated to the man's ears he looked up there was an unfamiliar woman who called his name. No, that was not true. He could recognize that face and those eyes he had fallen in love with.

"Hai….? Yasuka-chan!" Hiro grabbed her out of Ebisu's arms and spun her around holding her tightly. Tears of happiness ran down his face he praised the lords up above.

"For the most part Sango-chan seems to be fine, except for this fresh cut over her right eye," He placed her body on the ground. 'It reminds me of the scar that Kakashi-san has….' Ebisu wondered- 'could Sango-chan have gotten-?' He shook his head, that was absurd….but what about the cut? He would have to wait and see. "I'm going back inside to check if there are any more survivors."

"How is she?" Miroku asked Kagome who had healed the cut on Sango's eye and was kneeling beside her body that was laying a good distance from the house. He felt better once he had emptied out all of his stomach's content. The taste of bile slightly burned the back of his throat but he was more concerned for their friend's well being, she finally opened her eyes. "By-byakugan?"

"Argh, what the hell? Why are you guys standing over me like that?" Sango grumbled her head was killing her and the light was so bright. Sitting up she brought up a hand to rub at her itchy eye but was stopped by Miroku's hand. She glared at him. "Seriously what's your problem?" He pulled out the pocket mirror that he carried around with him and handed it to her. Her eyes….they were mismatched. One was brown and the other- Hyuuga snow white. Turning her head from side to side she watched as her reflection did the same. Closing one eye at a time she could see equally well out of both eyes maybe even slightly better in her right eye. It really was…her…but how-? And when-? What the-

"The old woman she said our daughter died. She told me that she didn't even have time to operate on her. I'm glad she didn't have to go through what I did but- she's gone Hiro! Gone…" Yasuka told her husband who burst out into tears of remorse.

"It's okay Yasuka-chan. We still have each other." He answered comforting his wife.

"Here's your hitai-ite you left behind. You can wear it like this," Kagome said tying it on slanted so it covered Sango's new eye. "Kakashi-kun wears it that way too. I think it looks really cool."

"Un, I like it." Sango patted the metal that now covered her mismatched eye. She took Hiraikotsu from Kirara and gave her neko a good scratch under the chin. Happy they had come before something worse had happened to her.

"Everyone I want you to get back to the village. I've placed many explosive tags in the house because it needs to be destroyed." Ebisu warned as he watched everyone go he waited until Kirara roared. That was the signal that meant everyone had gotten back to the village. Then he tossed two kunai with explosive tags at the house. There were just too many body parts. Some of which belonged to clans from Konoha. Some secrets needed to die with the person they belonged to. All that remained was a giant crater remained where the house, with the many glass jars of body parts, had once stood. The next day once everything was in order they returned back to Konoha.

"Naruhodo [I see] you know I have to inform the head of the Hyuuga clan, Hiashi-sama about this. Sango-chan I have a moment to spare now to bring you there now, as this is of great importance and a danger to the delicate relationship between our village and the Hyuuga's. The rest of you are free to go." Sarutobi said calling in a shinobi to go tell the head of the Hyuuga clan of the Hokage's unexpected plan to visit, to talk about very urgent matters over a cup of tea. 'I'm almost positive the entire Hyuuga clan will have an absolute fit when they hear about this…'

"Why can't we all go with Sango?" Kagome asked. "I don't get what all the fuss is about. When you found out that I had the Sharingan all you did was take me behind the Ichiraku Ramen stand! How come I never got a cup of tea?"

"Kagome-chan I would have done the same thing. That was if the Uchiha clan head was still alive. He would have been informed straight away, but as you know Sasuke-kun is the only living Uchiha left here in Konoha."

"Anyways that shouldn't concern your young mind. You should be practicing the Suiton Suijinheki! Why is it that you still haven't been able to produce a complete water bullet? Hmm- and Miroku I think it's about time you learn another genjutsu! See there is no time to stick your nose's in places they don't belong." Ebisu told his two student's while pushing them out of the Hokage's office.

"Mou I just can't do it. I can do the fire and the mud one but I can't help it if the water one doesn't like me." Kagome's groan could be heard down the hall.

"Hiashi-sama can't brand me with that cursed seal justu can he?" Sango wondered aloud. Tenten had told her that this was the seal Neji was given when he was young. Which was the reason why he acted so bitter towards everyone. If a simple hand seal by the 'main branch' of the Hyuuga clan was given that would cause a 'branch' member a lot of agony and it could easily kill that person. Tenten had also told her that Neji's father was a twin to the head of the house and he had been sacrificed to save Hiashi. She didn't know why Tenten had all those facts memorized- or even why she was recalling them now- it must be from shock.

"That's what I'm afraid of Hiashi-san will most likely want to do to you. Sango-chan you must understand that he is just trying his best to protect the secrets of the clan's Byakugan at all costs. You have come into possession of something that rightfully belongs to the clan. I hope that you can see how much of a danger it poses to all of them."

"Hokage-sama please you can't just let him mark me! I didn't ask for some crazy person to drug me then shove this eyeball into my socket in the first place!"

"Sango-chan you must calm down and act extremely respectful towards the head of the Hyuuga household. If you step out of line and offend him he won't even hesitate to brand you. Even then I won't be able to stop him. His clan is one of the noblest that still exist here today. Upsetting him would not be a wise decision. That's why I'm going with you. I am going to try and reason with him." Sarutobi informed the worried intelligent young girl sitting across from him. Before calling in his secretary to clear his afternoon schedule and told her that he would be at the Hyuuga compound, so if there happened to be an emergency- that is where he could be found.

"Hokage-sama, Hiashi-sama is now expecting you to visit."

"Arigato that will be all."

"I don't want him to put that curse seal on me. I can't stand the thought of someone having the power to control me or kill me in an instant." Sango was starting to understand how one could come to hate the main branch of the Hyuuga clan. 'I think I'd rather die.'

"I am going to do everything that I possibly can." He told her. As they neared the compound he placed his hand on her shoulder for support while they followed the branch member. They were led to the room where Hiashi was already waiting with the finest pot of tea.

"Hokage-sama." Hiashi greeted his eyes flickering over to glance at the lowly commoner girl that was standing outside the door.

"Hiashi-sama as you where informed. I have matters with the utmost urgency to discuss with you today. I apologize for dropping in so unexpectedly without giving you more warning."

"Hai." He motioned for the branch member waiting outside, to close the screen door.

'Now I can't hear what they're talking about.' She fidgeted around with her hitai-ite making sure it was securely attached to her head and wouldn't accidentally slip off.

"Sakimitama you know that you're trespassing on private property." Neji was surprised to see her standing outside the main branch house. No, he was actually more surprised that she was allowed to stand there and hadn't been escorted out of the compound.

"That would be the case if I wasn't brought here by the Hokage-sama. Do you really think I'd be stupid enough to come here? On second thought don't bother answering that." Sango would have called him 'Hyuuga' but … everyone here went by that last name.

"What business do you have with Hiashi-sama?" His eyes narrowed as he spat the honorific out, in his opinion that man didn't deserve such a title.

"Absolutely nothing that concerns you." She muttered snapping back around when the door slid back open. Revealing Hiashi who was taking great pleasure in looking into her eye with utter contempt, it was the way his eyes had narrowed and his mouth curled just by seeing her. There must be something about her that all Hyuuga's found repulsive or maybe it was their mentality which was passed from one generation to the next.

"Sango-chan please come and join us. Hiashi-sama would like to speak to you."

"Remove your hitai-ite," Hiashi demanded once the door was closed. "Look me in the eyes girl," One brown eye and the familiar snow white eye that belonged to his clan met his intense gaze. "Are you going to try and train yourself to use the Byakugan once you leave these premises?"

"If I may as Hiashi-sama, what would be the repercussion of such an action?" Sango bowed her head again. She hadn't forgotten the training her father had given. She had always suspected that one day he would marry her off to another clan, as a sign of peace to an opposing clan but as she grew older that fear vanished.

"You would immediately have a seal placed onto your head. Then if needed you would have to relocate yourself into the branch family house." Hiashi replied sipping his cup of tea. The girl was smart and she knew how to properly act towards nobility, unlike the rest of those fifthly villagers.

"Permission to speak freely for a moment Hiashi-sama," Sango wanted to grit her teeth together. "Is it possible for me to never show or speak of this eye by keeping it hidden under the Konoha hitai-ite, in return for training lessons on how to properly use it? I hope you can forgive me if my request is out of line. Currently there are only three other people that know if its existence but I give you my word that they won't speak of it."

"Hokage-sama who are the others she speaks about?" He contemplated the offer looking at the crown of her head that was still bowed to him. It was long overdue for the clan to add some fresh genes into their small gene pool.

"Her genin sensei, Ebisu-san and her two teammates Kushimitama, Miroku and Higurashi, Kagome I can also give you my word as Hokage that once they are informed none of them will speak of it." Sarutobi was surprised as she was trying to strike up a deal with the frightening clan leader.

"Hmm, I will allow you to keep that eye of yours and you will receive training on how to use it. However once you come of eighteen years age, you going to be marry someone of my choosing from within the clan and you are to live within Hyuuga compound walls or if you are ever to reveal that eye of yours willingly. You are to receive a cursed seal and move into the branch family house, effective immediately. Do you agree to these conditions?" Hiashi pulled out a scroll from his robe and dipped the end of a quill into a pot of ink writing everything one of the terms down on the piece of paper.

"I want you to really think about this Sango-chan." The Sandaime would let the girl decide for herself. This conversation was going a lot better than he thought it would. 'Hiashi must be in a pleasant mood.' Some sacrifices had to be made in order to get the things you want in life.

"Hai, I agree." A cunning plan had already formulated in her head.

Sarutobi closed his eyes. It pained him a great deal to think that a young girl would give her life away at such a young age. The sliding of the scroll in his direction made him open his tired eyes and he took the scroll and read it to make sure everything was exactly what she wanted to agree upon. He handed to Sango who read it twice then signed it and gave it over to him to sign as her guardian. Once everything was in order he handed the scroll back over to the clan leader who looked it over, rolled it up and then placed it off to the side of the table.

"Your training starts tomorrow come here directly after you're down with your squad I will have my first daughter, Hinata test your skills."

"I understand domo arigato gozaimashita [thank you very much]." Sango bowed respectfully before replacing her hitai-ite over her eye. Leaving the grounds with the Hokage following close behind her, she could tell that he wanted to say something to her but kept his opinion to himself. It didn't matter she could always move away or fake her death before eighteen. She smiled happy to know that she still had many options as long as she didn't have that cursed seal.

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Preview: Uh-oh looks like Naruto, Sasuke and Kagome managed to get their hands on sake- and what's going to happen now that Kakashi is finally back in Kohana?

Thanks to: kakashixangela, C h i i b i i C h a n , Blackmoon OniOokami, Valleygoat, WraithReaper, Anonymoose13, xXKillorbeKilledXx, vampires4444 , x-moon-surfer-x , Wicken25, dark-wolf-howl and Beware-I-Bit

Sorry for the long wait but after reading your reviews I was motivated to continue writing so this chapter is dedicated to all of you!


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